The Kurdish administration in northeastern Syria was forced to seek help from Moscow and Damascus in the wake of President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw all U.S. troops from the war-torn country, a co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) said, according to a report released by Rudaw on February 10.
“We don’t think that this is a good scenario and we don’t want it, if we allow the region to take over our border this will mean the failure of the democratic project, which we built,” Ilham Ahmad told American news outlets.
The Kurdish leader added that the withdrawal decision has forced their council to choice between “Turkish tanks” and “the deployment of regime forces on the border.” Ilham went on to claim that the decision will isolate Kurdish forces.
“The most important thing for us is receiving guarantees that our region will not be attacked by anyone and that the U.S. partners [Syrian Kurds] will not face a massacre,” Rudaw quoted Ilham as saying.
Two weeks ago, Ilham, who is visiting the U.S., confirmed that Kurdish forces are negotiating with Damascus in order to prevent any Turkish attack on northeastern Syria. Back then, she stressed that Kurds will pick a deal with President Bashar al-Assad over a Turkish invasion.
Ilham’s new remarks show that the SDC still hopes that Trump will cancel his decision and keep some US troops in Syria. However, it seems unlikely that the significant US presence on the ground in Syria will remain.