U.S. Pressures Syria’s Kurds Into a Deal With Damascus

The United States encouraged Kurdish allies in Syria to reach an agreement with Syria’s interim government on March 10, six official sources told Reuters.

U.S. pressure: Sources from the U.S. and those close to Syria’s government told Reuters the “U.S. played a very crucial role” in the deal between the Kurdish coalition—the Syrian Democratic Forces (sdf)—and the government led by President Ahmad al-Sharaa.

Three U.S. officials confirmed America encouraged the agreement, while another three sources said sdf leader Gen. Mazloum Abdi was flown to Damascus to sign the agreement on a U.S. military aircraft.

Tense situation: Syria is in the midst of a civil war, with mass killings occurring between the armed factions of former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s loyalists, Sharaa’s Sunni Islamist forces, the sdf and Turkey-backed Syrian militias. (Read “Syria’s Counterrevolution Has Begun” to learn more.)

The sdf has typically battled groups backed by Turkey, but one intelligence source said the new deal will likely ease some of this conflict.

It is also a huge boon to Turkey, which has been trying to prevent a Kurdish insurgence. America was helping the Kurds defend themselves, but the new agreement may force cooperation with Turkey.

The Kurds have been one of America’s closest allies in the Middle East; pressuring them into this agreement is like stabbing them in the back.

American-made peace? According to a U.S. defense official, the Trump administration believed the sdf could not hold its territory much longer if it had to fight pressure from Turkey and the new Syrian government at the same time.

According to Aron Lund of U.S. think tank Century International:

The United States is looking for ways to withdraw from Syria without chaos and blowback. The best way of doing that is to secure a deal among the Syrian factions. A negotiated handover makes sense for the United States. It’s Washington’s best bet to avoid conflict between the Kurdish-led forces and the new government in Damascus, and to prevent a Turkish attack across the border.

The way to peace? It is unlikely U.S. efforts to unify Syria will bring lasting peace. Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry explained in the April 2025 Trumpet issue that although U.S. President Donald Trump wants to be memorialized as a peacemaker, he is not pursuing it the right way.

As Mr. Flurry explained, President Trump’s foreign policy lacks an integral ingredient: God.

To understand, read Mr. Flurry’s article “Does Donald Trump Know the Way to Peace?”