LOS ANGELES.–Syria’s new revolutionary leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, once head of al-Qaeda’s al-Nusra Front, joined forces with the Kurd’s SDF, considered a mortal enemy of Turkey’s 71-year-old President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Joining forces with the Kurds is a slap in the face to Erdogan who’s threatened for some time to eliminate the SDF on the grounds that it’s linked to the PKK [Kurdistan Workers Party] considered a terrorist group in Turkey for its struggle for generations to form an independent Kurdistan. Shaking hands with SDF commander Mazloum Abdi in Damascus, Mazloum promised to protect Syria’s oil rich northeast, once considered in anarchy during the 14-year Syrian civil war. Erdogan, together with former U.S. President Barack Obama, spent years trying to topple al-Assad’s Damascus government. Al-Assad finally fled Damascus Dec. 8, 2024 no longer getting Russian help.
Bogged down in Ukraine, Putin was unable to give al-Assad the same backing he did in 2015 when he stopped Erdogan and Obama from toppling his Damascus government. Joining the SDF won’t be taken lightly by Erdogan whos’s all been shut out of the new Damascus government. Recent massacres of al-Assad’s Shiite Alawite sect in Western Syria prompted al-Sharaa to join forces with the well-armed Kurish Peshmerga fighters. President Donald Trump gave the SDF everything it needed to eventually eliminate ISIS in Syria, killing Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Oct. 26, 2019. Al-Sharaa commissioned the SDF to defend Syria’s assets in northeastern Syria, including border crossings, an airport and oil and gas fields, becoming part of the Damascus administration. Thanking Abdi for stabilizing Syria during a time of transition, al-Sharaa welcomed help from the Kurds.
Al-Sharaa naturally trusted the Kurds after under their protection for years while he worked to complete the Arab Spring and topple the last of the Baathist dictators, like Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. SDF officials worked with Syrian Democratic forces once backed by Obama trying to topple al-Assad’s government. When chaos broke out recently slaughtering Alawite Shiites, Al-Sharaa realized he need more than his forces currently defending Damascus, remnants of al-Assad’s regime in Western Syria. Joining forces with the SDG sends a message to Istanbul that al-Sharaa wants Turkish President Recept Tayyip Erdogan to stay out of Syria. Erdogan offered Turkey’s military assets to actually keep the Kurds out of Syria, something that Erdogan promised to do. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the recent massacres of Alawites in Western Syria.
Revenge killings in Western Syria have challenged the Damascus regime’s ability to control violence outside its Damascus orbit. “The massacres have weakened Sharaa. He has a lot of trouble internally and with the United States. It could help him show that he’s not hostile to all minorities,” said Aron Lund, a fellow at the U.S.-based think tank Century International. Since al-Assad fled Damascus, the Kurds weren’t sure what role, if any, they’d play in the new government, especially with Erdogan promising to send in his military to stop the SDF from seizing any control. SDF leader Abdi didn’t know whether 78-year-old President Donald Trump would support of the role the SDF would play in securing the new Damascus government. Trump has nothing but gratitude for the role the SDF played back in 2019 when it eventually got rid of ISIS leader al-Baghdadi.
With the SDF playing a larger role in the Damascus government, it’s more likely Trump would leave U.S. forces in place in northeastern Syria. For years the SDF worked with forward operating U.S. bases in Syria to eventually track down and eliminate al-Baghdadi. Only Erdogan could find the arrangement unacceptable because al-Sharaa chose to go with a known quantity in the Kurds that protected him for years before he made his final push to Damascus. Getting rid of al-Assad was no small feat when you consider that the Arab Spring started in 2011 and only recently toppled al-Assad. Whether admitted to or not, Russia has been in a weakened state since fighting Ukraine to a stalemate. Russia still controls its Khmeimim Air Base and Tartus naval base in Syria. Al-Sharaa seems content to continue receiving the lease money for both military bases.
Turkey’s President Erdogan won’t be too happy about al-Sharaa joining forces with the SDF to assure security for his assets in northeastern Syria. It gives the SDF breathing room from Erdogan because he’s not likely to rock the boat interfering with the arrangement. Trump should have no problem at all working with the SDF in northeastern Syria, assuring that ISIS and al-Qaeda won’t seize the opportunity to grab more land with the anarchy in the region. Erdogan wants to play a role in the new Damascus regime, regardless of how al-Sharaa used the SDF as an extension of his Damascus military. With all the time al-Sharaa spent with the SDF, he’s perfectly comfortable working with them to help secure Syria in the future. If Erdogan wants to Turkey to do business in Syria, he’s let go of his old hatred toward the Kurds and let al-Sharaa do what’s best for Syria.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
