Latest "Syrian Democratic Forces SDF" stories

Kurdish funeral

Fearing American abandonment, Kurds kept back channels to Damascus, Moscow wide open

When Syria’s Kurdish fighters, America’s longtime battlefield allies against the Islamic State, announced over the weekend that they were switching sides and joining up with Damascus and Moscow, it seemed like a moment of geopolitical whiplash.

4 years ago

Turkish-backed forces from the Free Syrian Army

Money, hatred for the Kurds drives Turkey’s Syrian fighters

The Syrian fighters vowed to kill "pigs" and "infidels," paraded their Kurdish captives in front of cameras and, in one graphic video, fired several rounds into a man lying on the side of a highway with his hands bound behind his back.

4 years ago

US special operations secrets could fall into hands of Russians and Syrians in pullout

A former U.S. military intelligence operator who spent years working with special operations forces told Military Times that the potential spillover of sensitive tradecraft or information by the SDF was “super problematic," but also a symptom of the lack of a genuine strategy in the region.

By Shawn Snow

4 years ago

US withdrawal in Syria is only a small number of special operators, says Trump administration

“Turkey has neither the intent, desire, nor capacity to manage 60k detainees in al Hol camp, which State and DoD IGs [inspector general] warn is the nucleus for a resurgent ISIS. Believing otherwise is a reckless gamble with our national security,” Brett McGurk, Trump’s former envoy for the fight against ISIS, tweeted.

By Shawn Snow

4 years ago

Turkey threatens military operation into Syria against American-backed Kurdish forces

Turkey’s president, in his strongest warning yet, threatened Saturday to launch a military operation into northeastern Syria, where U.S. troops are deployed and have been trying to defuse tensions between Washington’s two allies — Turkey and the Syrian Kurds.

4 years ago

To set up ‘safe zone,’ US wades into muddled Syria politics

U.S. flags fluttered on the back of coalition armored vehicles as they whizzed past tiny hamlets in northeastern Syria. Once part of the sprawling territories controlled by the Islamic State group, the areas are now under threat of an attack from Turkey, which considers these villages’ liberators, the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish-led forces, to be terrorists.

4 years ago