Besieged Kurds in Syria Ask for American Help

Ahmed al-Sharaa, the Syrian leader who, having exchanged combat fatigues for a suit and tie, presented himself to Donald Trump as a “strong leader” (Trump’s admiring words), one who was no longer a supporter of Al Qaeda (the Americans once put a bounty on his head, when he was part of Al Qaeda, of $10 million), but a moderate with whom the West could deal. Trump was deeply impressed with al-Sharaa when they met, and promptly removed all American sanctions on Syria that had been imposed when Bashar Assad still ruled. But al-Sharaa has been showing his true colors as a jihadist and an Arab supremacist. His forces have attacked all of the minorities in Syria: the Alawites in Latakia, members of a sect that is a branch of Shi’a Islam and thus anathema to the Sunnis, including the army troops that al-Sharaa controls; the non-Muslim Druze whose stronghold is the Sweida governorate that extends just south of Damascus to the Golan; and the non-Arab Kurds, who control one-quarter of the land area of Syria, in the country’s northeast. The Kurds so far have rejected al-Sharaa’s demand that they integrate their own militia into the national army, and the Syrian army has now unleashed an offensive against the Kurds, hoping to seize Kurdish land and force the Kurdish militia to disband as a fighting unit and instead to be integrated into the Syrian army. The Kurdish commander has now called on the Americans for help.

The Kurds have long been close allies of the Americans, whom they joined in fighting ISIS in both Syria and Iraq. They were also America’s allies in fighting Saddam Hussein’s forces. So it is not surprising that they have hoped that the Americans would come to their aid as they try to withstand the Syrian army’s assault. More on the Kurds in Syria fighting to keep their militia, and on their call for American help, can be found here: “Kurdish commander calls on US to ‘intervene forcefully’ in Syria clashes,” Jerusalem Post, January 18, 2026:

The head of the main Kurdish forces told Reuters on Sunday that the US should intervene more forcefully to end a Syrian offensive that has gained key territory from Kurdish fighters in recent days.

Government troops launched an offensive on Saturday into territory run for the last decade by semi-autonomous Kurdish authorities in the northeast of Syria, capturing towns on both sides of the Euphrates River as well as the country’s largest oilfield and a gas field, officials and security sources said.

People’s Protection Units (YPG) commander Sipan Hamo said at a Saturday meeting between US envoy Tom Barrack and Kurdish officials produced no roadmap to a ceasefire. He denied Syria’s Kurds wanted to secede or create an independent state and said their future was in Syria .

“Our greatest hope is that there will be a tangible outcome, especially from the coalition and the United States, meaning that they will intervene more forcefully in the existing problems than what they are currently doing,” Hamo said.

Syrian troops have continued to advance, despite a US Central Command (CENTCOM) call on them to halt.

Another “call” from CENTCOM for Syrian forces to stop their assault will have no effect. The Americans could, and should, do much more. They could demand that the Syrians halt their offensive; otherwise, the economic sanctions just lifted from Syria will be reimposed. The Americans could also supply weapons to the Kurdish militia, which the Syrian Army has so far outgunned. While Trump still appears to be impressed with al-Sharaa, perhaps saner heads in the administration, especially Secretary of State Marco Rubio, can prevail, and point out all that the Kurds have done in helping American forces fighting the Islamic State in both Syria and Iraq, and persuade Trump to repay the decades of Kurdish loyalty by helping the Kurds withstand this aggression by Syrian Arabs.

Hamo said Kurdish authorities recognized that Washington now had to balance its years-long alliance with Kurdish forces, who helped defeat the Islamic State in Syria, with its new found support for Syria’s government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa….

“We believe that the responsibility for everything currently happening inside Syria lies with the Western countries, and especially the United States of America,” Hamo added.

It is Trump who has fallen for al-Sharaa, and Trump who did nothing — not even express alarm or disapproval — after the Syrian security services, headed by members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the jihad group al-Sharaa controlled, attacked both the Alawites in Latakia and the Druze in Sweida.