Minority of misfortunes: What US backtracking on long-time ally means for Kurds as Al-Sharaa’s forces advance?
The current persecution of Kurds follows a historical pattern of targeting their political autonomy, dismantling self-governance institutions and using aggressive military programmes against the scattered minority in countries like Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey. Post ISIS, they did receive a brief period of self-rule and political organization, but as has been the fate of the Kurds, no sovereign land belonging to them continuously results in violence, displacement and exclusion.
New Delhi: The Syrian government has launched a renewed campaign against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Kurdish political structures, intensifying military pressure and administrative dismantling in Kurdish-majority regions. As part of this offensive, territorial gains by Al-Sarra’s forces have been made in northeast Syria where the government has retaken the cities of Raqqa and Deir Az Zor from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
This marks a sharp departure from the post-Assad framework encouraged by the United States where integration of Kurdish forces into the post-Assad Syrian political order was eagerly sought. The Al-Sharra government too had taken steps to ensure this, but now seem to backtrack on their commitment as the US too looks on at this crackdown passively even though it can have severe implications on the fragile security balance in northeastern Syria and the larger nearly always volatile region.
US plan for Al-Sharra and Kurds post Assad
When the Assad regime fell in December 2024, the Syrian Democratic Forces, a primarily Kurdish-led group, was hesitant to join the emerging rulers in Damascus. Negotiations between Mazloum Abdi, the SDF’s leader, and al-Sharaa eventually culminated in an agreement on March 10, 2025, to integrate the Kurdish-led forces into the Syrian government forces.
This pact was encouraged by the United States as well, which viewed it as a means to preserve territorial stability and prevent chances of another civil war in Syria. The United States also sought a pact between Al-Sharra and the Kurds because Kurdish forces, particularly the SDF, had played a pivotal role in defeating ISIS in Syria with extensive US military support. The US wanted to ensure that the Kurds get a place in the new Syrian state post-Assad, both as a reward for this partnership and due to strategic necessity. This now seems to have come undone, as Syrian government forces are overtaking Kurdish areas with impunity, and the United States too seemingly silent on the issue.
Who are the Kurds?
The Kurds are an ethnic group native to the Middle East, sharing a historical identity, language family and cultural traditions. They inhabit a mountainous region spanning southeastern Turkey, northern Syria, northern Iraq, and western Iran.
Despite forming one of the largest stateless nations in the world, their political development has been shaped by the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. Promises of Kurdish self-determination and a homeland known as Kurdistan remain unfulfilled. The Kurdish demand for a homeland has now well extended from a nationalist aspiration to one that has been shaped by persistent political exclusion, economic marginalization, cultural erasure and military attacks in nearly all countries of which their population is a part of.
How current persecution fits in a legacy of Kurdish injustice?
The present repression of Kurds under Al-Sharra continues decades of state-led marginalization of Kurds, not just in Syria but also in Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. They have faced the brunt of oppressive regimes, both while they are in power and when there is a power vacuum or regime change in these regions. Despite considerable political pushback and well-acknowledged military skills of Kurds, their recent history has been marked by violence, exclusion and injustice.
Kurds for example were subjected to systematic policies of exclusion under the Baathist regime in Iraq. It was in the form of political exclusion as in 1962, when the country’s census stripped tens of thousands of Kurds from citizenship and put restrictions on Kurdish language and cultural expression. Other more violent forms have included ethnic cleansing programmes, mass displacements of Kurds and chemical warfare.
Similar patterns of military suppression, political exclusion and demographic engineering occurred in Turkey through counterinsurgency campaigns against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and in Iran through periodic crackdowns on Kurdish political movements.
The current persecution thus follows this historical pattern by targeting Kurdish political autonomy, dismantling self-governance institutions and using aggressive military programmes against the scattered minority in countries like Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey. This is despite the exemplary military campaign that Kurdish groups operated against ISIS. After this they did receive a brief period of Kurdish self-rule and political organization, but as has been the fate of the Kurds, no sovereign land belonging to them continuously resulted in violence, displacement and exclusion of Kurds.