By Tony Gamal-Gabriel

BEIRUT — Now that the Daesh (the so-called IS) group’s “caliphate” has fallen, the hard-won limited autonomy of Syria’s Kurds will be left in peril if their key US ally goes ahead with itn Saturday, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces announced the end of the proto-state that the Sunni Arab extremist group declared across large parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq in 2014.

The Kurds have largely stayed out of Syria’s eight-year civil war, instead building their own institutions in a third of the country under their control.

But a planned US military pullout has left them exposed to an attack by Turkey and in need of protection from Damascus, in a massive blow to their dreams of self-rule.

“The Kurds have been caught between a Syrian rock and a Turkish hard place,” Syria expert Fabrice Balanche said.

Kurdish fighters have spearheaded the fight against Daesh since late 2014, but neighboring Turkey views them as “terrorists”.

The presence of American troops in areas held by Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had acted as a shield against any Turkish offensive.

But US President Donald Trump in December shocked Washington’s allies by announcing a full withdrawal of all 2,000 US troops from Syria as Daesh had been “beaten”.

“The Kurds are facing an uncertain future. The most urgent threat appears to be from Turkey,” analyst Mutlu Civiroglu said.

After his announcement, Trump attempted to ease tensions by speaking of a 30-km “safe zone” on the Syrian side of the border.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said his country would establish the “security zone” itself if it took too long to implement.

‘Recognition?’

The Kurds have rejected any Turkish implementation, especially since any such buffer would include their major cities.

They are demanding instead the deployment of an international observer force.

Beyond American approval, Civiroglu said Turkey would likely need a green light from Russia before any Turkish offensive in Syria.

“Russia’s position is going to be very important, because Russia has a strong power over Turkey,” he said.

President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime now controls two-thirds of Syria thanks to Russian military backing since 2015, and its seems determined to also return to oil-rich northeastern Syria.

To protect themselves, the Kurds have dispatched delegations to Washington and Moscow.

And in ongoing talks, they have scrambled to mend ties with Damascus.

After decades of marginalization, the Kurds have developed their own political system in northeast Syria — holding elections, collecting taxes and running schools teaching the Kurdish language.

“In a war-torn country, the Kurdish system is working fine,” Civiroglu said. “The Kurds want this to be recognized.”

They want “Kurdish education to be offered officially”, he said, after decades of an effective ban on their mother tongue. — AFP