Kurdish Forces’ Merger with Damascus: A Troubling Shift in Syria’s Power Dynamics

The announcement that Syria’s principal Kurdish-led force—the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)—has agreed in principle to merge as a cohesive unit into the Damascus-controlled national army signals a critical and precarious turning point in the Syrian conflict. Mazloum Abdi, the SDF commander, confirmed that the two sides have resolved long-standing disputes over the merger mechanism, planning to fold tens of thousands of Kurdish fighters and internal security personnel into the government’s military structure. But this isn’t merely a military arrangement—it’s a pact fraught with geopolitical and strategic consequences for America and its allies. Is Washington’s Syrian Strategy Unraveling? Since the rise...