Last month’s fighting in the Syrian town of Hasakeh made one thing very clear, that ISIS just being a remnant force is starting to require a rethink, as they are capable of a protracted, week-long offensive.
The Kurdish SDF, with US support, managed to hold them off, but there are concerns that ISIS may be once again on the rise in the area, and the SDF are warning they don’t think they’re strong enough to handle them.
This has Syrian Kurdish groups on the call for renewed international support, saying that they are already weakened by fighting with Turkey, and by Syria’s economic struggles, and that they aren’t in a position to fight a whole new campaign against ISIS.
Constant tension with Turkey may make that support hard to come by. The US may have interest in supporting the Kurds, but a new military buildup in Syria probably won’t be an easy sell.
As ISIS Recovers, Syrian Kurds Push for International Backing
SDF doesn't think it is strong enough to maintain fight with ISIS
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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