General Abdi warns Syria’s fate relies on US support and integration of the #SDF# - opinion
From ISIS camps to new political battles, General Abdi explains the pressures shaping Syria’s uncertain future.

ByQANTA AHMED

The drive from Iraq into Northeast Syria along the M4 was punishing – the highway scarred by war with Assad, Hezbollah, Russia, ISIS, Turkey, HTS, and finally won by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). I was here to meet General Mazloum Abdi, commander of the SDF.
No lights, road markings, or median-only moonlight, and the occasional sodium yellow gas-flares offered fleeting glimpses. Silent bodyguards with earpieces (and side pieces) drove me onward into the pitch-black. Four hours later, we reached Qamishli, staying overnight before moving onward to the heavily guarded Al-Hol Camp in the morning, home to 25,000 ISIS wives and their children – “ISIS cubs.” After Al-Hol, we drove to Al Hasaka to the military base, where General Abdi met with me for a riveting four-hour dialogue.

Less aid and fewer security personnel
General Abdi launched into the discussion. An SDF officer translated the general’s Arabic into flawless English, recording everything by hand. A female officer also took notes in Arabic. I took notes by longhand.
“Since President Trump reduced USAID, aid declined for a limited period during which time we had much less manpower and humanitarian support to manage the ISIS camp, Al-Hol, for the ISIS displaced persons.
“While there is less aid, and there are fewer security personnel.The SDF met these needs out of our budget in order to keep the camp secured. We have fewer NGOs here to support the mission and – from the SDF budget – we have to provide the forces and protect the camp despite less assets for our own defense,” he continued.
At press time, the SDF confirmed USAID levels have since returned to normal, and USAID continues to provide financial and humanitarian support to Al Hol camp as before.

“The SDF is very grateful for the support of the President Nechirvan Barzani, and we’re very thankful,” he smiled, “but there is room to do more.”
Abdi echoed Syria’s need for decentralization that Barzani and his advisors had explained to me in Iraq.

“We are at a very important junction in the new Syria, as Syria is at a new stage of relations with the West,” Abdi said.

“Before the global coalition, we confronted the danger of ISIS here in Northeast Syria. Now we have many detention centers, ISIS families, and ISIS sleeper cells still operating here. We are still losing soldiers in attacks by ISIS on the SDF in Raqqa, Deir Ezzor, and other areas,” the general said.
“We have over 26 detention centers and three main prisons holding up to 10,000 male ISIS inmates altogether. The main prisons are here in Al Hasaka… with 3,000 or 4,000 inmates each, as well as other prisons in Raqqa, where we have 1,500 inmates, and in Qamishli, with 1,000 inmates. These are extremely dangerous fighters,” Abdi said.
“The US military is always trying to focus on this (combating ISIS). We have US CENTCOM and Admiral Brad Cooper, who is very supportive, but the US military needs more political support in Congress. Political backing from Congress is extremely important,” Abdi explained.

“President Trump wants to make Syria great again. In doing so, he must support the SDF. The SDF must be included in the global coalition against ISIS, and the SDF must be included in the new government of Syria,” he said. “US help is greatly needed with the decentralization of power in Syria.”

“We do have a preliminary agreement known locally as the March 10 agreement,” Abdi said, referring to the agreement between the transitional government and the SDF aiming to integrate military and civilian structures into the new state and securing the comprehensive ceasefire.
“We met with Tom Barrack – the US special envoy to Syria – and the US military, as well as local security forces. We talked about our integration into the Syrian Ministry of Defense, the Syrian National Army, and the Syrian Ministry of Interior,” Abdi explained.

The US was beginning to understand the SDF’s needs.

“Here in Northeast Syria, we have 100,000 soldiers including 70,000 fighters and 30,000 police and security. They are the first-line responsible for protecting their own areas.
“We have agreed to maintain three divisions of the SDF and two special battalions. One of those would focus on border security, and the other one is the female battalion, and we would all be part of the Ministry of Defense. The United States now understands this is important for us to maintain our integrity while cooperating with the national military.

“Stability inside Damascus needs the United States to stay here in Northeast Syria,” he added.

“The US Congress needs to support the US military. We need a wider discussion of the Caesar sanctions…. The support needs to be conditional. US support must not be unconditional. At the moment, there are no conditions on [Syria’s interim President] Ahmed al-Sharaa,” he said.
“We know Ahmed al-Sharaa when he led Hay’at Tahrir al‑Sham,” General Abdi continued. “We have previous experiences together, and we know very well the nature of his forces.

“This compound where you are now was 10 years ago under the control of HTS”.

Abdi said, “At the moment. Ahmed al-Sharaa is working to convince the West to give Syria a new chance, but there are still real concerns on the ground. In Latakia, 2,000 Alawites were killed. In Suwayda, 1,000 Druze were killed. Even as these atrocities were being committed against the Druze community, the videos were circulating.” he added, “and the message was, ‘the Kurds will be next.’

“The SDF is a coalition of Kurds, secular Arabs, Christians, different ethnicities. We have less internal problems, less conflict, less disagreement, and less sectarianism in our forces because we are diverse,” he said.
“There are major challenges in integrating the forces. How can we integrate the female battalion? They have no female battalions at all, and we cannot separate our women fighters.”

What of Iranian and Turkish influence? General Abdi responded:

“US forces are repositioning in Erbil. In 2019, Turkey made a peace accord between the Kurds. And there is now less Iranian footprint, following the war with Israel, the fall of the Assad regime and the fall of Hezbollah.
“From 2013 to 2014, Hezbollah was a serious fighting force in Northeast Syria, before the US engaged with the SDF. They were harmful to the Kurdish cause. But although Iran is now weaker, it is still trying to rebuild proxy groups.
“The SDF is ready to work with the United States and other active powers to protect Syria. We know that some former regime officers are abroad and have already been contacted likely in attempts to create proxy groups,” Abdi clarified.

What of al-Sharaa’s prognosis?

Abdi said, “We do not know yet whether he will grow stronger or weaker. It depends on him. If he is rational, and he wants to meet the needs of the Syrian people, he could succeed. 2026 will be a defining year.”
The Alawites and the Druze support the SDF, as do the secular Syrian Arabs, he explained. Syrians are not and were not extremists before this civil war came and drew extremists from everywhere to fight. This support could strengthen the SDF.
“Americans must see a more balanced role. There are no alternatives to the SDF; we need to see genuine change from Ahmed al-Sharaa, not just promises,” he said. [1]