American Steve Gumaer had only been in Syria for hours when he learned 138 more families had arrived with no place to stay. The residents from the town of Tel Tamer fled Turkish bombardments, piling into open-bed trucks for a 40-mile trip that could mean the difference between life and death.

The 1991 film City Slickers, about a trio of buddies who go on a cattle drive adventure to stave off midlife crises, is mostly fun but offers poignant moments. In one, a main character grieves the mess he’s made of his life back home, which includes adultery and losing his job. Billy Crystal’s character says to his crying friend, “You remember when we were kids, and we were playing ball, and we hit the ball over the fence out of bounds, and we yelled, ‘Do-over’? … Your life is a do-over. You’ve got a clean slate.” 

Mortars are flying in northern Syria, but Turkey insists it is only firing in self-defense and upholding the Oct. 17 cease-fire agreement. Dave Eubank with the humanitarian group Free Burma Rangers said he escaped a Turkish attack this weekend in the village of Soda, where drone strikes wounded Kurds.

At the end of two weeks of fighting in Syria, the United States has paid a high price to get perhaps 1,000 U.S. military personnel out of harm’s way.

An area in the process of stabilizing under a semi-autonomous constitution aimed at restoring rights to Kurds, Christians, Yazidis, and Arab Muslims has reverted to a turbulent scene of atrocities and jihadist movements.

“There is no cease-fire here,” said Dave Eubank, director of Free Burma Rangers, one of the few U.S.-based aid groups working near the front lines in northeast Syria. Three days into a five-day cease-fire brokered by Vice President Mike Pence, bombs and artillery fire rained on the city of Ras al-Ain in defiance of the agreement. Eyewitnesses like Eubank reported widespread atrocities, including alleged use of chemical weapons, contradicting assurances from Washington and Ankara of creating a “safe zone” inside Syria.

Twenty-four hours after Vice President Mike Pence shook hands with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to inaugurate a five-day cease-fire in northeastern Syria, bombs and artillery fire rained on the town of Ras al-Ain in defiance of the agreement.

WASHINGTON—The White House responded to the Turkish attack on Kurds in northeastern Syria on Monday with economic sanctions, a planned visit to Ankara by Vice President Mike Pence, and a plea for a cease-fire. The sanctions target the Turkish ministers of defense, energy, and the interior.