Kurds in Syria grapple with immense challenges
Date
12/30/2024 6:11:18 AM
(MENAFN) The Kurds in Syria and the wider region are grappling with immense challenges due to complex geopolitical dynamics and competing interests of global powers like the United States, Turkey, and Israel. Despite their longstanding aspirations for independence or autonomy, the Kurds face growing Political and military pressure, and their future remains uncertain amid ongoing regional and international changes. U.S. foreign policy has been marked by significant shifts, with Joe Biden's administration initially seen as a return to traditional policies after the turbulence of the trump years. Biden has been critical of Russia and a strong supporter of Israel, increasing pressure on both China and North Korea. However, his administration has notably deviated from a century-long U.S. foreign policy tradition by moving away from support for Kurdish autonomy. With less than six weeks remaining in Biden's presidency, there are concerns that his administration could abandon the Kurds.
Since World War I, U.S. presidents have consistently affirmed the Kurdish right to self-determination, a sentiment rooted in the post-war era when Kurdish representatives carried President Wilson's 14 points, advocating for independence or autonomy. The Kurds, like the Jewish people before the establishment of Israel, have long been a "nation without a state." However, global powers have often overlooked Kurdish rights, using Kurdish territories for their own imperial and strategic interests. In 1919, as British and French ambitions shaped the Middle East, the Kurds, alongside other ethnic and religious minorities, were sidelined in the pursuit of larger geopolitical goals. This historical context has shaped the Kurdish experience in Syria, where competing claims for territory have led to complex and ongoing conflicts. In Syria today, the focus on Damascus obscures the wider civil wars occurring across the country. As Israel and Turkey play their own geopolitical games, Israel has strategically weakened Assad's ally, Hezbollah, and targeted Syrian military infrastructure with airstrikes, disarming the state and preventing any anti-Israel groups from possessing weapons capable of threatening Israel.
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