Saudi Arabia hosted a meeting of senior diplomatic and defense officials pertaining to the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS on Monday.
Syria is the latest country to join this most recent coalition meeting, which now includes around 90 members. The meeting was important, with a joint statement noting that “participants welcomed the comprehensive agreement between the Government of Syria and the Syrian Democratic Forces, including the permanent ceasefire and arrangements for the civil and military integration of northeast Syria.”
This seemingly indicates that the SDF’s important role in the war against ISIS might be coming to a close. As Syria’s new transitional government takes the reins in the fight against the terror group in Syria, the SDF’s role alongside the coalition is changing.
By and by, the statement noted that “Syria’s stated intention [is] to assume national leadership of counter-ISIS efforts and [it] expressed appreciation for the sacrifices made by the Syrian Democratic Forces in the fight against ISIS. Participants also thanked Iraq’s government for its continued leadership in the Defeat ISIS campaign.”
Will Kurdish role in fight against ISIS be forgotten?
This raises a key question. As the coalition moves forward with the struggle against ISIS, one group that played a major role in this war might be forgotten.
The Kurds in Iraq and Syria played a monumental part as a bulwark against ISIS and then in the operations to liberate areas from the terrorist network.
That said, the roles of Kurds in Iraq and Syria differed. In Iraq, the Kurds live in areas of the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government. The KRG maintains its own armed forces, known as the Peshmerga.
When ISIS invaded Iraq in 2014 and began capturing large cities, such as Mosul and Fallujah, the Peshmerga assumed defensive positions. The KRG took in hundreds of thousands of displaced people fleeing ISIS. This included large numbers of Christians who fled Mosul.
Meanwhile, in Syria, the Kurds in the country’s east lacked defenses and a state structure to defend against ISIS. The Syrian regime under Bashar al-Assad's rule had oppressed Kurds and denied them resources. So, they found themselves up against a rising ISIS menace with only small arms.
The People’s Protection Unit (YPG) was the main Kurdish group standing against ISIS in Syria. In August 2014, ISIS attacked the Yazidis in Sinjar in northern Iraq. It began as a genocide. The YPG helped Yazidis flee the genocide by crossing the border. The Peshmerga also found themselves on the defensive as ISIS headed toward Kurdish cities such as Dohuk and Erbil. This led to the US intervention to back Iraq against ISIS.
In Syria, the ISIS offensive led to the siege of the Kurdish city of Kobane. Both Kurdish regions were now under threat. The KRG sought to support Kobane’s defenses.
Within months, as the Kurds proved themselves capable of fighting ISIS in northern Iraq and Syria, the US-led coalition began to work with Kurds in both countries.
In Syria, the US helped create the Syrian Democratic Forces. This group was intended to be a multiethnic partner force.
As for the YPG, it had links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which America considered to be a terrorist group, so the YPG was viewed as a difficult partner for the US to work with directly.
In addition, fighting in Turkey between the PKK and the government led to increased anger by Ankara at the US role in Syria alongside the Kurds. The SDF was supposed to help solve this.
Between 2015 and 2019, the SDF suffered around 11,000 deaths in the war against ISIS. By 2026, according to online reports, the total of SDF members killed fighting ISIS was 12,000, of which 5,821 were Arab militants.
This illustrates that while Kurds suffered heavily, the Arab members of the SDF fell in large numbers. Kurds are a relatively small minority group in Syria – around two million people out of 25 million Syrian civilians.
AS SUCH, the Kurds suffered disproportionate losses in the war against ISIS in Syria. Syrians as a whole had their share of strife in the war, many of them at the hands of the Assad regime, which murdered hundreds of thousands of people and forced some 13 million Syrians to flee.
Regardless, the SDF losses were heavy, and they deserve more than just a memorial for their losses. They were a unique and key partner force for the coalition. Moreover, they proved to be a significant success as a US partner, working alongside the US Central Command. They proved themselves worthy allies in battle alongside US special forces for years.
Today, things have changed in Syria. A new government has been formed, and the coalition logically prefers to partner with a government rather than a “non-state actor” or “armed group.”
This is the reality of international relations. America had previously warned that the relationship with the SDF would be tactical, transactional, and temporary. However, that does not mean the SDF and the Kurds in Syria do not deserve more recognition.
In Iraq, the same issue exists. The Peshmerga remain key partners of the US and the coalition. There was cooperation within the KRG’s ranks between the coalition and the Kurdistan Training Coordination Center.
This eventually became an eight-country effort to train tens of thousands of Peshmerga. Numerous countries have partnered with the Peshmerga, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Hungary, Italy, Germany, and others.
A recent report at Kurdistan24 said that “Germany’s Bundestag on Thursday approved extending the deployment of German troops in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq until December 31, 2027, continuing Berlin’s contribution to international efforts aimed at preventing the resurgence of the Islamic State (ISIS).”
This demonstrates the deep connection many countries have with the Kurdistan Region and the Peshmerga.
As the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS/Daesh seeks to move to the next phase and work with the Syrian government, there are concerns that the Kurdish role in the war on ISIS may not receive the recognition it deserves.
It is unclear how the coalition could best demonstrate recognition. Uncountably, though, ceremonies and acknowledgment of the SDF’s role, specifically the Kurdish part of it, would go a long way toward illustrating the strong partnership formed over the last decade.