A week after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, the northern Kurdish region is neither as calm nor as relaxed as the rest of Syria.
HE Northern Syria is the homeland of Syrian KurdsIt is the country’s largest ethnic minority and also the United States’ closest ally in the country. For them, the struggle for a new order is entering a potentially even more difficult phase.
Kurdish fighters during the Syrian civil war They faced a number of armed groupsThey partnered with the United States to defeat the Islamic State group and created a largely autonomous region in the country’s oil-rich east.
But the gains of the non-Arab Kurds are now in danger. The rise of Sunni Arab rebels who overthrew Assad Vital aid from TurkeyLong an enemy of the Kurds, this will make it difficult for the Kurds to find a place in the new Syria and could prolong the conflict.
Jihadist rebels who entered Damascus last weekend We made peaceful offers to the Kurds. But rebels violently expelled Kurdish fighters from the eastern city of Deir el-Zor days after government forces abandoned the area.
In the north, a Türkiye-backed opposition group that has been fighting the Kurds for years captured the city of Manbij. AND Türkiye launched an air strike on a Kurdish convoy He said it was carrying heavy weapons looted from government arsenals.
The Kurds have long relied on US assistance in the face of such challenges. There are approximately 900 US soldiers in eastern SyriaWhere Cooperation with Kurdish forces To prevent the resurgence of the Islamic State. But the future of that mission will be in doubt under the administration of President-elect Donald Trump, who has long been skeptical of U.S. intervention in Syria. In the city of Qamishli on the Turkish border, there are very few people who dare to think of peace or a new beginning for now.
A spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by Kurdish forces and backed by the United States, said that since the overthrow of President Bashir Assad’s regime: Islamic State “operates freely in the rest of Syria”.
“There are hundreds of Islamic State fighters “(ISIS) is there, they’re wearing ISIS logos on their uniforms and they’re shouting IS battle cries,” Siamand Ali told a camera crew from Germany’s ARD television channel earlier this week. “In my opinion, the new rulers of Damascus share the same ideology as ISIS,” he added.
Meanwhile, a Kurdish man described the ongoing threat from Turkish forces. “We have been experiencing these attacks for four years. Turkish UAVs pretend to attack military targets. But in reality they attack many civilian targets. This scares all the residents,” said Azad Ismael.
Who are the US-allied Kurdish fighters in Syria?
Kurds are one of the largest stateless ethnic groups in the world.About 30 million of them are concentrated in a region halfway between Türkiye, Iran, Iraq and Syria. They are a minority in all countries and have frequently been subjected to persecution, which has fueled Kurdish armed uprisings.
They created an autonomous region at the beginning of the civil war in SyriaThey never fully aligned with the Assad Government or the rebels trying to overthrow it.
When the Islamic State group captured a third of the country in 2014, Kurdish fighters They are secular and include women in their ranks– They proved their worth in the first wars against extremists, winning the support of the US-led coalition.
They established the Self Defense ForcesThat organization, which also includes Arab fighters, has driven the Islamic State group out of large areas of Syria with U.S.-led airstrikes and the help of U.S. special forces. In 2017, these Kurdish-led forces captured Raqqa, the capital of the extremists’ self-declared caliphate.
Why is Türkiye fighting the Kurds?
Türkiye is thinking for a long time Self-Defense Forces as an extension of the Kurdish rebellion It has been within its borders for decades. He sees the main Kurdish group as a terrorist group on par with the Islamic State and says it should not have a presence in the new Syria.
Türkiye has trained and financed fighters in recent years. Syrian National Army (ENS) is helping the Kurds take control of territory in northern Syria along the Turkish border. These Turkish-backed fighters presented themselves as part of the opposition against Assad, but Analysts say these are largely due to opportunism and hatred of Kurds..
ADVERTKurds have focused on the fight against ENS in recent years. However, the new administration in Damascus, which has long-standing ties with Türkiye, may open a much longer front.
How do the Syrian opposition view the Kurds?
The main rebel group is led by Ahmed al-Shara, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, a former al-Qaeda militant who cut ties with the group eight years ago and says he wants to build a new dictatorship-free Syria that will serve all its people. religious and ethnic communities.
Nawaf Khalil, Director of the Germany-based Kurdish Studies Center, said that the first signs are positive. he said this rebels stayed away from two Aleppo enclaves controlled by the Self-Defense Forces two weeks ago when they attacked the city at the beginning of their rapid advance across the country. “It is also positive that they do not speak negatively about the Syrian Democratic Forces,” he said.
Time will tell whether these feelings will continue. After devastating Deir ez-Zor this week, a fighter from the Al Sharaa group posted a video in which he said: They will soon advance towards Raqqa and other parts of eastern SyriaIt increases the possibility of new conflict with the Kurds.
ADVERTThe rebels are stillThey may try to reach some kind of agreement to include the Kurds in the post-Assad political order. but this would probably require accepting some degree of Kurdish autonomy in the east. This also risks angering Turkey, which now appears to be the main power broker in Syria.
Will the Trump administration support the Kurds?
Army Gen. Erik Kurilla, the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, met with Self-Defense Forces forces in Syria on Tuesday. As a sign of the Biden administration’s commitment to the post-Assad alliance. However, things may change on January 20.
Trump gave little detail about his Middle East policy except to say: wants to end wars in the region and keep the United States out of them. In a social media post shortly before Assad’s ouster, Trump said, “Syria is a disaster, but it is not our friend and the United States should have nothing to do with it. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT.”
In 2019, which was his previous term of office, Trump abandoned Kurds before Turkey’s attackHe presents this as a fulfillment of his campaign promise to end US involvement in “endless wars” in the region.
ADVERTThe move sparked harsh criticism, including from prominent Republicans who accused him of betraying an ally. Trump reversed course weeks later, approving a broader mission. Secure the eastern oil fields. The troops remained where they were and the alliance continued.
