US allies in Syria wary of pullout
AS US forces withdrew from Afghanistan, precipitating the chaotic collapse of its government, another American ally watched warily and hoped that its fate will be different.
The painful memories of an earlier American military drawdown are still fresh for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in north-eastern Syria.
Former US president Donald Trump blindsided his generals three years ago by announcing a withdrawal of the 2000 US troops allied with the SDF in fighting the Islamic State. Although he was later persuaded not to remove the entire force, he did cut it by more than half the following year and, in doing so, cleared the way for the SDF’S adversary, Turkey, to invade part of the territory.
The American move was widely criticised as a betrayal of the Kurds, who had lost thousands of fighters during the campaign against the Islamic State.
“The impact of that will last forever,” said General Mazloum Kobane Abdi, the SDF'S top commander and Washington’s strongest ally in Syria, in a rare interview.
About 900 American troops remain stationed in an expanse of north-eastern Syria that lies outside Syrian government control. They are part of the ongoing fight against the Islamic militants, who are estimated by the Us-led military coalition to number between 8000 and 16000 in Syria and Iraq.
In recent months, the Biden administration has sought to reassure Mazloum and others in the SDF, sending General Kenneth Mckenzie, who heads US Central Command, and Joey Hood, acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, to the region to talk with them, officials said.
The administration has stressed that the partnership with the SDF remains strong and that American troops will not be leaving any time, according to SDF and US officials.
Mazloum, who goes by a nom de guerre, struck a cautious but optimistic
tone about the future of the US presence here. Describing an improved relationship with Washington in the seven months since President Joe Biden took office, the general said that he expected relative stability to prevail in north-eastern Syria “if America keeps its promises”.
The Us-led coalition continues to provide intelligence and carry out airstrikes to support SDF efforts to roll up sleeper cells and target the group’s surviving leadership. The coalition also works with the SDF to patrol local oil fields.
The balance of power in Syria’s multi sided conflict depends on the American presence. Where US troops
retreat, American officials see an opening for the Syrian military or forces from Russia or Turkey to advance.
The American pull-back came after Trump gave Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a green light to send his military deeper into Syria in a bid to clear the area of the SDF. Separately, US forces and Iran-backed groups have recently clashed around military installations in north-east Syria.
Biden ordered airstrikes on militia groups here in late June, sparking a fresh cycle of reciprocal violence with militiamen firing at a facility housing US troops and American forces responding with artillery fire.
Mazloum warned that the Islamic
State also remained a threat. In particular, he raised concerns about the security of detention centres holding captured militants. “We have more than 11000 fighters in these prisons, and the people who are guarding them need to be trained better to deal with them,” the general said. “Sometimes we have riots and people could escape. We need to make sure they’re in safe hands.”
While British funding has paid to expand a facility in Hasakah, most of the makeshift prison facilities across the region are packed and conditions are poor.
“These people are living in schools and other buildings. The facilities are temporary. They’re not safe,” Mazloum said.
Especially pressing is the fate of children who were captured during the battles against the Islamic State and are now held in these detention centres. Many are traumatised. Some have been radicalised. There is only one rehabilitation centre in northeast Syria. The SDF, Mazloum said, is calling for foreign help in building at least 12 more.
The Kurdish-led authority that administers the region has also been urging foreign governments to repatriate thousands of their citizens – foreign fighters and their families – who were captured during the war and now languish in prisons and displacement camps in north-eastern Syria.
The sprawling and often febrile al-hol camp, housing tens of thousands of the militants’ relatives, poses one of the biggest challenges. Hard-liners in the camp have murdered other detainees who have tried to distance themselves from the Islamic State. Some of the women in the camp have become the focus of online fundraising efforts by Islamic State sympathisers.
Across north-eastern Syria, few believe that US forces will remain indefinitely.
After 10 years of war and thousands of troops killed, the SDF and the local authority insist that the resolution of the wider Syrian conflict must include a political settlement recognising the rights of the region’s predominantly Kurdish population. In recent years, it has gained a measure of long-sought autonomy from the Syrian government.
When asked how he saw the next few years unfolding, Mazloum smiled and picked his words carefully.
“I know that the United States wants their troops here to fight the terrorists, but they need to stay until there is a solution for the Syrian crisis. If we can make this happen. Then the future will be positive in a way,” he said.