Barzani Meets SDF Leader Mazloum Abdi: What This Signals for U.S. Syria Policy
The president of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Masoud Barzani, hosted Mazloum Abdi, the head of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), on February 6. Both men are Kurdish leaders. Abdi was the key commander behind the SDF’s transformation from a small Kurdish militia into a US-backed group that defeated ISIS in Eastern Syria.
Barzani has been a key leader in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq for decades. It was a symbolic meeting. It is also symbolic of the US role in the Middle East. The US backed the SDF for a decade, and the US has played an important role in securing Kurdish rights in Iraq.
Momentous Changes
This year is already shaping up to be a momentous one in the Middle East. Among those changes are the shifting fortunes of the SDF in eastern Syria. The SDF began the year in control of almost a third of Syria. It held the area east of the Euphrates River. This territory of control encompassed an area with several million inhabitants, including many Kurdish areas of Syria. However, clashes between the SDF and the Syrian government’s forces in mid-January led to the SDF abandoning most of the areas it controlled. On January 30, an agreement between Damascus and the SDF paved the way for the deployment of Interior Ministry forces into areas the SDF still controlled.
It is not clear what will become of the SDF now. Some of its thousands of fighters may join the Syrian army. This would benefit the Syrian Defense Ministry by providing it with several brigades’ worth of troops trained and equipped by the US. The US trained and helped to equip the SDF during the war on ISIS. That war began back in 2014 when ISIS rapidly expanded in Syria and Iraq, capturing Mosul and other cities in Iraq and carrying out a genocide. Washington’s response was to lead a global coalition against ISIS. That became Operation Inherent Resolve.
Global Coalition
Most of the global coalition that fought ISIS was focused on supporting operations in Iraq. Although the coalition grew to around ninety countries, not all of them provided many forces to the war effort. US Central Command helped to form the connection with the SDF in Syria as part of the coalition’s efforts against ISIS.
The SDF was formed from the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in eastern Syria. The YPG played an important role in saving Yazidis in northern Iraq from genocide in August 2014. They were able to do this because the YPG already controlled an area in Syria near the border with Iraq, and therefore not far from the Yazidi homeland in Sinjar. It was the YPG’s resilience in the face of ISIS that led to US support.
SDF Formation
The formation of the SDF in 2015 enabled the US to work with a new umbrella group that included Kurdish fighters from the YPG, but could be branded as reaching beyond the Kurdish community. The SDF rebranding was also important because America’s NATO ally, Turkey, saw the YPG as an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). As such, Turkey saw it as a terrorist group. The SDF would provide a degree of distance from accusations of PKK affiliation. For many commentators, this difference is largely an illusion.
Questions in the Region
What lessons can we learn now, looking back on a decade of US involvement with the SDF in eastern Syria? Given the complexities on the ground, including the tensions between Turkey and the SDF, how might this situation help us understand other challenges in the region? This matters because the US and other Western allies are not always on the same page regarding certain armed groups or organizations. For instance, the Trump administration is seeking to enable a new Palestinian administration in Gaza.
Israel, a key US ally, has generally opposed allowing any new government to arise in Gaza, often accusing the new technocratic government of being linked to the Palestinian Authority. Most of the world supports the Palestinian Authority. Israel has opposed the PA running Gaza. This has left Hamas in charge of around half of Gaza.
As with the US backing for the SDF, the challenges the US faces in Gaza and the West Bank create similar complexities. In both cases, the primary goal is stability and the defeat of extremists. It isn’t in anyone’s interest to see extremist groups grow in the West Bank or Gaza.
Partnering with the SDF
The SDF was a good partner because it was willing to do the heavy lifting against ISIS. It recruited tens of thousands of fighters. It trained the fighters and created a zeal among them. The SDF suffered thousands of casualties fighting alongside America against ISIS.
The SDF was able to liberate Raqqa from ISIS control in 2017, and by 2019, the SDF had rolled down the Euphrates River Valley to the Iraqi border. US support was key to this. US forces worked “by, with and through” the SDF. This meant that the SDF did almost all the work on the ground, while the US provided air support, special forces support, and intelligence. This process came from the learning curve of the Global War on Terror.
US forces shouldn’t be the point of the spear; they should be supporting. The local partners need to do the fighting; otherwise, the US will find that gains will quickly evaporate when it leaves.
Tactical Military Partnership
In terms of a tactical military partnership, the work with the SDF was successful and can be used as a model for similar partnerships. However, on the diplomatic level, there was always an elephant in the room. US diplomats viewed the SDF primarily as a non-state actor.
This was a temporary, transactional, and tactical partnership, US officials have warned in the past. The Department of State prefers to work with countries rather than armed groups or non-state actors. This may be unfair, but it is the reality in Washington and also at most chanceries around the world. There are exceptions. The US helped Kosovo become a new country, and America has sometimes backed similar efforts in places like East Timor or South Sudan. During the Cold War, there was some support, usually controversial, for armed groups or non-state actors.
The different approaches to the SDF by US Central Command and those at the State Department should also be examined in terms of lessons learned. The US and Western countries should pursue a whole-of-government approach in the future when working with these types of groups. Supporters of the SDF have felt a sense of betrayal each time the White House has indicated it might leave Syria. This happened in 2018 and 2019, and it may be happening again today.
US forces in Syria today are helping move ISIS detainees from Syria to Iraq. Once the Syrian government controls areas held by the SDF, it is unclear what US forces in Syria will do in the future. They could partner with the Syrian government. They could also wrap up most of their operations. This includes shifting hundreds of personnel to the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq. US forces have already left most facilities they once used in Iraq, such as Ain al-Assad base. The KRG is basically the last major outpost of the US in Iraq.
The SDF was a phenomenal fighting force against ISIS. However, when it faced clashes with the Syrian army, the SDF suffered setbacks. Many Arab communities in eastern Syria preferred the new government in Damascus. The US has so far helped reduce the clashes and enabled some transition.
Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq have also been helpful. This shows the importance of long-term US partnerships in the region.
On the other hand, the US-SDF relationship always lacked a roadmap for the future. This narrow, military-only approach was destined to encounter political change. Future relationships with groups like the SDF should be cultivated alongside political engagement with more clearly defined goals.
About the Author: Seth J. Frantzman
Seth J. Frantzman is the author of The October 7 War: Israel’s Battle for Security in Gaza (2024) and an adjunct fellow at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He is a Senior Middle East Analyst for The Jerusalem Post. Seth is now a 19FortyFive Contributing Editor.
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