Which Syrian Army Should the Kurds Join?

While US’s Syria envoy rose to the apogee of Orientalism by lecturing Lebanese journos to “be civilised,” the real deadlock sits among Damascus-Rojava-Ankara where he is the negotiator! Bad luck!

Mazlum Abdi, the Kurdish leader of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Src: ANF.

We have a problem that could set off a domino effect from Damascus to Ankara to Tel Aviv.

Turkey has several concerns and objectives in Syria. This makes life harder for two major indigenous actors, the al-Sharaa government in Damascus and the Syrian Democratic Forces led by Mazlum Abdi in Rojava, and irritates one external actor, Israel.

On 10 March 2025, Mazlum Abdi and his administration signed a deal with the Damascus government to join Syria’s new state institution. The announcement was presented as a declaration of unity, yet the meaning of “joining” was left open. It could follow different timelines, carry conditions, and serve diverging objectives. Soon it became clear that the deal was more a gesture of acknowledgment than a binding framework, and that each side understood it in its own way.

The Sharaa government insists on a unitary Syria. Still, it had initially left some room for an autonomous Kur…