DAMASCUS: The jihadist rebels who toppled Syrian President Bashar Assad say they need to construct a unified, inclusive nation. However after 14 years of civil battle, placing that preferrred into follow won’t be simple. For Syria’s Kurdish minority, America’s closest ally within the nation, the wrestle for a brand new order is coming into a probably much more difficult part.
Over the course of Syria’s civil battle, Kurdish fighters have fended off an array of armed factions, partnered with the US to rout the Islamic State group and carved out a largely autonomous area within the nation’s oil-rich east. However the features of the non-Arab Kurds at the moment are in danger. The ascendance of the Sunni Arab rebels who overthrew Assad — with very important assist from Turkey, a longtime foe of the Kurds — will make it onerous for the Kurds to discover a place within the new Syria and will delay the battle.
The jihadist rebels who rode into Damascus over the weekend have made peaceable overtures to the Kurds. However the rebels violently drove Kurdish fighters out of the jap metropolis of Deir al-Zour days after authorities forces deserted it. To the north, a separate opposition faction backed by Turkey that has been battling the Kurds for years seized the city of Manbij. And Turkey carried out airstrikes on a Kurdish convoy it mentioned was carrying heavy weapons looted from authorities arsenals.
The Kurds have lengthy counted on US assist within the face of such challenges. Round 900 American troops are in jap Syria, the place they companion with Kurdish forces to forestall an Islamic State resurgence. However the way forward for that mission shall be thrown into doubt underneath president-elect Donald Trump, who has lengthy been sceptical about US involvement in Syria.
Here is a better take a look at the predicament the Kurds discover themselves in. Who’re the US-allied Kurdish fighters in Syria? The Kurds are among the many largest stateless ethnic teams on the earth, with some 30 million concentrated in a territory straddling Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. They’re a minority in every nation and have usually suffered persecution, which has fueled armed Kurdish uprisings.
In Syria, they carved out an autonomous enclave early within the civil battle, by no means absolutely siding with the Assad authorities or the rebels searching for to topple him. When the Islamic State group seized a 3rd of the nation in 2014, Kurdish fighters — who’re secular and embody girls of their ranks — proved their mettle in early battles towards the extremists, incomes assist from the U.S.-led coalition.
They shaped a gaggle often called the Syrian Democratic Forces, which additionally contains Arab fighters, and drove the Islamic State group out of enormous areas of Syria with assist from U.S.-led airstrikes and American particular forces. In 2017, the SDF captured Raqqa, the capital of the extremists’ self-styled caliphate.
Why is Turkey combating the Kurds?
Turkey has lengthy seen the SDF as an extension of the decades-old Kurdish insurgency inside its personal borders. It considers the principle Kurdish faction a terrorist group on par with IS and has mentioned it shouldn’t have any presence within the new Syria. In recent times, Turkey has skilled and funded fighters often called the Syrian Nationwide Military, serving to them wrest management of territory from the Kurds in northern Syria alongside the border with Turkey.
The SNA has portrayed itself as a part of the opposition towards Assad, however analysts say the fighters are largely pushed by opportunism and hatred of the Kurds. With IS largely defeated and an unstated truce with Assad, the Kurds have been capable of concentrate on battling the SNA lately. However the brand new management in Damascus, which additionally has longstanding ties to Turkey, might open one other, for much longer entrance.
How do the Syrian rebels view the Kurds? The principle insurgent faction is led by Ahmad al-Sharaa, previously often called Abu Mohammed al-Golani, a former al-Qaida militant who minimize ties with the group eight years in the past and says he desires to construct a brand new Syria freed from dictatorship that can serve all its spiritual and ethnic communities.
Nawaf Khalil, head of the Germany-based Middle for Kurdish Research, mentioned the early indicators have been constructive. He mentioned the rebels steered away from two SDF-controlled enclaves of Aleppo once they stormed the town two weeks in the past in the beginning of their fast advance throughout the nation. “It’s also constructive that they didn’t converse negatively concerning the Syrian Democratic Forces,” he mentioned.
It stays to be seen if these sentiments will endure. After sweeping into Deir al-Zour this week, a fighter from al-Sharaa’s group posted a video saying they might quickly advance towards Raqqa and different areas of jap Syria, elevating the potential for additional clashes with the Kurds. The rebels might nonetheless search some sort of settlement with the Kurds to include them into the post-Assad political order, however that might seemingly require accepting a level of Kurdish autonomy within the east. It might additionally danger angering Turkey, which now seems to be the chief energy dealer in Syria.
Will the Trump administration assist the Kurds? The highest US navy commander for the Center East, Military Gen. Erik Kurilla, met with SDF forces in Syria on Tuesday, in an indication of the Biden administration’s dedication to the alliance post-Assad.
However issues might change on January 20.
Trump has offered few particulars about his Center East coverage, except for saying he desires to finish the area’s wars and maintain the USA out of them. In a social media put up shortly earlier than Assad was overthrown, Trump wrote that “Syria is a multitude, however isn’t our buddy; THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT.” Throughout his earlier time period, in 2019, Trump deserted the Kurds forward of a Turkish incursion, casting it because the fulfilment of a marketing campaign promise to finish US involvement within the area’s “limitless wars.” The transfer prompted heavy criticism, together with from outstanding Republicans who accused him of betraying an ally. Trump backtracked weeks later, approving a wider mission to safe oil fields within the east.
