The quickly unfolding occasions in northeastern Syria in latest weeks bring to mind the wistful Kurdish proverb, “We now have no buddies however the mountains.” Syria’s Kurds, it appears, are being deserted as soon as once more by individuals they thought had been their buddies, together with the USA.
This newest betrayal started with a sequence of choreographed army, political and diplomatic maneuvers by which Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa made it seem as if he was compromising with the Kurds’ calls for for continued autonomy when actually he wasn’t. It was a sequence that appeared at the least partly designed to superficially fulfill Washington, the Kurds’ long-time ally, and persuade the U.S. to help a deal that the Kurds accepted solely underneath duress. Sharaa’s plan seems to have labored, and now Syria’s Kurds are set to lose their autonomy and far of their means to defend themselves.
The start of this newest shift within the fortunes for the Kurds might be traced again to a second throughout President Donald Trump’s go to to Saudi Arabia final Might, when he appeared on the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, and quipped, “Oh, what I do for the crown prince.” Trump was referring to his determination to elevate U.S. sanctions in opposition to Syria on the urging of MBS, because the crown prince is understood, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Earlier than lengthy, Trump was embracing Sharaa, Syria’s new chief and the previous head of an al-Qaida-affiliated militant group.
