After years as Washington’s frontline ally against Isis, Syria’s Kurds find themselves abandoned to a resurgent central state and a former jihadist now recast as president. Zac Larkham reports.
Reversing years of support for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the US has thrown its weight behind Syria’s transitional government and its plans to dissolve the Kurdish autonomous region. President Ahmed al-Sharaa ordered the invasion of North and East Syria in January, and within two weeks government forces occupied 80 per cent of the region known as Rojava.
The feeling among Kurds is one of betrayal.
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