Syria: the end of Kurdish autonomy?
In north-eastern Syria, the Kurds' sphere of influence is shrinking dramatically with the advance of the transitional government's forces. A four-day ceasefire is currently in place. The US Special Envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, has said that the Kurdish SDF's role as an anti-IS force has largely expired, since the government in Damascus is now ready to assume security responsibilities. The media discusses the consequences.
US renouncing its proxy army
This development will improve relations between Ankara and Washington, comments Yetkin Report:
“Tom Barrack's statement signals the end of a tense period in Turkish–U.S. relations that began when the United States, at a certain stage of the Syrian civil war that started in 2011, chose the PKK's Syrian branch rather than Nato ally Turkey as its partner in the fight against the Islamic State, starting with the 2014 Kobani battles. At the time, the Obama administration - then in power in the United States -had the SDF established in 2015 to avoid formally cooperating with the PKK, which it designated as a terrorist organisation. ... This was later publicly acknowledged by then–Special Operations Commander Raymond Thomas.”
The Kurds are tough
The Kurds know such situations only too well, WOZ comments:
“For the Kurds themselves, another chapter in a long chronicle of self-assertion is beginning. Beyond all romanticisation, their core remains their unparalleled tenacity: a people who have survived decades of persecution in four nation states won't allow themselves to be erased from history so easily. Al-Sharaa should ask his neighbours in Ankara, Tehran and Baghdad: nowhere has it been possible to permanently break the Kurds' will to achieve self-determination. On the contrary, every attempt to stifle it by force has ultimately backfired.”
Don't abandon good allies
Europe must not refuse to support its partners in the fight against IS, La Libre Belgique argues:
“Abandoning them now would not only be morally wrong, it would be a major strategic error. A betrayal of our commitments, but also of our most fundamental interests. Should we accommodate the current regime in Damascus, whatever it may be, in order to avoid chaos? No, because sacrificing an allied minority on the altar of illusory stability is unrealistic. It is irresponsible to turn a blind eye to the release of battle-hardened jihadists. It is negligent to believe that the crisis in Syria will have no consequences for Europe. Any compromise with inhumanity will catch up with us sooner or later.”