There are signs that the US is shifting away from its “partnership with the SDF” policy.
There are signs that the US is shifting away from its “partnership with the SDF” policy.
By Fikret Akfırat
One of the two groups that do not comply with the new Syrian government’s decision to eliminate armed groups and form a central army are the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a “disguise” of the PKK/YPG. The second group is the Syrian National Army (SNA) supported by Türkiye. Türkiye, which has the largest military force in Syria, and the armed forces of the SNA have been maintaining their presence since the downfall of Assad on December 8, 2024, with the aim of creating the military leverage needed to ensure the elimination of the SDF.
Over the past two and a half months since the fall of Assad, the most significant issue has been the PKK/YPG’s presence in Syria. This topic is at the heart of Türkiye-US relations and remains a top priority for Arab countries that aim to “open a new page” in Syria. The Arab tribes, the main elements of the regions under the control of the SDF with US military support, also want an end to this de facto situation.
In recent weeks, developments regarding the future of the PKK/YPG and its so-called “autonomous region” in Syria have accelerated. SDF and PYD were not invited to the Syrian National Dialogue Conference. The spokesperson of the Conference’s Preparatory Committee stated that “both the SDF and PYD, which seeks independence, must be eliminated” (Anadolu Agency, February 17, 2025).
Time to withdraw
There are signs that the US is shifting away from its “partnership with the SDF” policy. Previously, those who strongly supported the policies of the previous era are now speaking differently. One of them is Charles Lister, a former official who worked in teams established by the US to train “opposition forces” in Syria. Lister wrote an article titled “It’s Time for Syria’s Kurds to Fold” in Foreign Policy.
The subheading of the article is “Kurdish autonomy is a problem that today’s Syria can’t afford”. Before, on January 24, 2024, Lister had written an article titled, “America Is Planning to Withdraw From Syria – and Create a Disaster”.In his most recent article, written after meetings in Syria, Lister states, “Despite their clear value to Washington and its coalition allies, one unmistakable conclusion that I drew from more than a week of meetings with Syrians from all corners of the country was that in today’s post-Assad Syria, the SDF is a problem that needs to “go away.”
“Removing the PKK from Syria’s political landscape”
On February 21, Soner Çağatay, an expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, one of the key centers where policies focused on Israel’s security and the Second Israel project are developed, argues that “removing the PKK from Syria’s political landscape would pave the way for Turkey to cooperate with Washington and the Syrian Kurds on many issues beneficial to U.S. interests.”
Çağatay wrote a two-part analysis on talks with Abdullah Öcalan. He believes that “Ocalan seems set to publicly call on the PKK to disarm, and a wide range of actors will presumably support his plea, including the DEM Party leadership, significant portions of DEM’s base, the YPG/SDF in Syria, and many of the PKK’s lower and middle ranks. Top PKK commanders in Qandil may come on board too (at least initially), lest they be seen as disrespecting the group’s ‘honorary chairman’”.