The commander of Syria’s largest Kurdish militia has accused the United States of abandoning its Kurdish allies in Syria, key partners in America’s fight against the Islamic State, and warned of a resurgence by the Islamic State amid political uncertainty in Syria.
Kurdish forces played an essential role in helping the United States and other countries battle the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. In the years since, as Syria languished in a protracted civil war, the Kurds, with U.S. backing, operated prisons filled with fighters accused of being ISIS terrorists, managed massive camps of displaced people and established an autonomous civil government in northern Syria.
But in recent days, as rebels elsewhere in the country toppled the Assad regime, plunging the country into a new and precarious position, the Kurds, who control northeastern Syria, have come under assault by militant groups backed by Turkey, a longtime adversary. In clashes in Manbij and Kobani their forces have been attacked by fighters aided by Turkish drones and air power.
As the fighting has intensified between the Kurds and Turkey-backed groups, the main Kurdish militia, the Syrian Democratic Forces, said it had to divert fighters from defending the prisons that house accused ISIS members to positions on the front lines.
“This leaves a vacuum behind that can be taken advantage by ISIS and other actors,” the S.D.F.’s top general, known by the nom de guerre Mazlum Kobani, said early on Wednesday.
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