Trump’s Syria Pullout Follows Years of Kurdish Struggle
Trump’s Syria Pullout Follows Years of Kurdish Struggle by Vivi Vitalone – NBC News
The Kurdish expression “No friends but the mountains” has become more painfully true in recent weeks.
On Oct. 26, a U.S.-led raid killed the world’s most wanted terrorist, the Islamic State group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, thanks to a Kurdish forces informant who was a spy in the terror group’s inner circle. Meanwhile, American forces continued their withdrawal from northeastern Syria and Turkey moved into the area formerly controlled by the United States’ Kurdish allies. Fighting has raged in the area for weeks, and forced tens of thousands of Kurdish civilians to flee their homes, according to aid organizations.
The dramatic reversal for the U.S. allies followed President Donald Trump’s Oct. 9 announcement that the U.S. would withdraw forces from Syria, which allowed for the Turkish invasion and the displacement of Kurdish fighters who had been vital U.S. partners in the war on ISIS…