Jerusalem Post: Why did Washington abandon the SDF?
Neville Teller, who works as a Middle East correspondent for the Eurasia Review news website, explained that the US president’s administration led by Donald Trump has decided to turn the page on Kurdish autonomy in favor of strengthening the authority of the Syrian government headed by Ahmed al Sharaa.
This shift took shape with the president’s visit to the White House in November 2025, where Trump openly expressed support for the sharia leadership and his vision of a united and strong Syria.
By last December, Washington began to show its public satisfaction with the Syrian government’s performance, in a clear reference to a reorder of US priorities.
After years of relying on the SDF to fight ISIS, there has been a shift in US policy that has seen these forces as an obstacle to the project of reunifying Syria.
In January, Syrian forces launched a military campaign in SDF-controlled areas to get them to integrate into the national army, amid direct pressure from the United States on SDF leaders to accept it.
The SDF ran 29 prisons and detention centers housing about 10,000 men, in addition to nearly 40,000 women and children, including 8,500 foreigners from 60 countries, some of which refuse to be repatriated, as all of them were captured during campaigns against ISIS.
According to Teller, the transfer of control of these facilities to the Syrian government could open the door to long-awaited diplomatic solutions, particularly with regard to the repatriation of foreign nationals, a step that the SDF was unable to take due to the lack of international recognition.
Teller concludes that Washington has finally chosen to bet on a unified Syrian state, even at the expense of an old ally, in a move that reflects harsh political pragmatism and redraws the map of alliances in postwar Syria.
