Mick Hartley

Roland Oliphant in the Telegraph on the end of Kurdish-run Rojava:

For Kurds, it was the nearest thing they had to a country. For idealistic foreigners, a noble experiment in socialism. For the West, a convenient ally against terror group Islamic State (IS). Now, the entity known as Rojava – an independent Kurdish statelet in north-eastern Syria – is at an end.

Launched two weeks ago, a Syrian government offensive against Rojava’s Kurdish fighters, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has routed them from a vast swathes of the Euphrates valley, including the country’s largest oil field and the sprawling al-Hol prison camp.

Troops have advanced towards a second camp at al-Roj, which holds women – including Britain’s own Isis bride Shamima Begum. Alarmed US forces have been evacuating the remaining male Isis prisoners to fresh camps in neighbouring Iraq.

Now the sides say they have reached a final peace settlement – one that amounts to a Kurdish surrender.…

The offensive reflected the determination of former jihadist, now Syrian leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa to unify the country under central rule for the first time since the Syrian civil war began in 2011. It also demonstrates his willingness to use force to do so.

It also underscores his success in wooing the great powers in the region: his offensive against Rojava has been supported by Turkey, given the nod by Israel, and largely ignored by the US, Britain and France – formerly the SDF’s main patrons and allies.

For the Kurds, it is a bitter betrayal and a hard lesson in realpolitik: despite shedding blood alongside US forces to defeat IS, and gallantly guarding the terror group’s prisoners ever since, their erstwhile allies have decided that they are no longer useful.

The al-Hol prison camp? That’s where some 24,000 prisoners are held, most with links to ISIS. The Kurdish SDF were guarding them – and now they’re not.

A possible ISIS resurgence, then? Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa was himself a former jihadi, though not with ISIS – and he’s made the right noises about continuing to police the camp. But what does Turkey want? They’re largely pulling the strings here, and they have no love at all for the Kurds.