Is the US Rethinking Its Strategy on the Kurdish Dossier in Syria?

The United States did not intervene to protect the Kurds during last week’s full-scale military operation by the Syrian Arab Army and its affiliated armed groups in northern Aleppo’s Kurdish-majority neighborhoods. This inaction echoes previous instances when Washington failed to support the side often described as its most trusted regional partner at a time of vulnerability.

…

Giran Ozcan, a prominent Kurdish analyst and founding executive director of the US-based Kurdish Peace Institute, told Rudaw English that the events in Aleppo have “dealt a severe blow to Syria’s national viability and weakened the US’s capacity to fight ISIS and jihadism in general.”

He added that “rather than a green light, it was a very shortsighted amber,” warning that Washington’s inaction in the Aleppo clashes “has undoubtedly emboldened the jihadists embedded in the new security establishment being formed in Damascus.”

…

Ozcan believes that “as a result of developments over the past 10 days, the trust needed to implement the March 10 Agreement has been significantly eroded.” He added, “Minorities in Syria have gained yet another reason to be suspicious of Damascus.”

…

Ozcan, who is also a fellow for Kurdish affairs at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, said, “Israel has made no promise to intervene on behalf of the Kurds in Syria.” He added, however, that “the institutionalization and consolidation of jihadism within Syria’s ruling establishment should be a constant concern for Israel,” and should accordingly shape its policies.

…