SYRIA DESK
Once the backbone of the campaign against ISIS, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) now face a dramatically altered landscape shaped by evolving U.S. priorities, growing tribal dissent and strategic repositioning.
American officials have stepped up diplomatic efforts in Syria, with U.S. envoy Tom Barrack working to mediate between the SDF and Damascus. He has made it clear that the U.S. will not support the creation of a separate SDF state or a Kurdish autonomous zone.
Federalism and autonomy, the principal request of the SDF, is radically rejected by Damascus and seems to be off the table - for now - for the United States.
Special Envoy Barrack underscored that Washington’s objective is a unified Syrian state, ruling out federal or ethnic enclaves – directly referencing the structural link between the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which leads the SDF, and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
His message to the SDF leadership was direct: “We don’t owe them the ability to have their own independent government within a government.”
Meanwhile, Syria’s new leader Ahmed Sharaa (Abu Muhammad al-Jolani) has emerged as a pivotal actor. Though controversial, Sharaa is proving himself to be a pragmatic and disciplined political operator.
Despite pressure from Turkey during the clashes between the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) and the SDF in December 2024 and January 2025, Sharaa notably refrained from opening a second front. His restraint signaled a clear strategic calculation: he seeks political integration, not confrontation.
This diplomatic repositioning is part of a broader U.S. plan to gradually withdraw from the northeast while encouraging the integration of the SDF, particularly its Arab and Kurdish factions, into Syrian state institutions.
As part of this, Washington is facilitating the handover of key security responsibilities, including the volatile al-Hol and al-Roj detention camps, to Damascus. These camps, which house thousands of ISIS fighters and families, represent both a logistical strain and a potential security threat that U.S. policymakers are, for now, eager to see managed by the central government.
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However, the SDF remains in firm control of these camps, which they are unlikely to relinquish easily, as these sites represent their last major bargaining chip with Western actors, Damascus, and regional powers —a lever of strategic value in a context where their political and military options are rapidly narrowing.
Sharaa is also playing a long game. Time, in many ways, is on his side. The growing flow of reconstruction funds is bypassing the northeast, where no comprehensive agreement with Damascus exists. At the same time, the financial support that has sustained the SDF is expected to taper off as American and Gulf priorities shift.
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