Will the Syrian Kurds become the next Iraqi Kurdistan and the US redeploy in north-east Syria?

By Elijah J. Magnier – 

In total silence and just hours after the signing of a landmark agreement in Damascus on 10 March 2025 between Ahmad al-Sharaa’ (aka Abu Mohammad al-Joulani), the self-proclaimed de facto president of Syria, and Mazloum Abdi, Turkish forces launched air strikes on the Tishreen Dam and bombed other Kurdish-controlled sites in north-eastern Syria, a region under US influence. The timing and nature of this attack raise essential questions: Turkey’s immediate military response suggests that not all actors may have been fully aligned. Why would Turkey attack now, knowing the deal was in the works? Or is it making a statement about its dissatisfaction with the undisclosed terms? Or is Turkey behaving like Israel in southern Syria, Lebanon and Gaza, asserting its right to attack any target it deems a security threat?

Whatever the agreement’s details, it is far from being fully implemented because of the complexity of integrating all Syrians into the new government and security forces under one roof when all the key figures have been appointed rather than elected by the people. Moreover, they belong to a single group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which now runs the country.