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Source: https://www.thetimes.com/world/middle-east/article/kurds-syria-government-us-military-isis-s8fc93b2q
Syrian Kurds: "We Fought ISIS for America, Now Trump Has Abandoned Us"
(The Times-UK) Mustafa al-Ali - After leading the overthrow of the dictator Bashar al-Assad in 2024, President al-Sharaa has sought to bring the autonomous Kurdish enclave in eastern Syria to heel. And this time, the U.S. backs the besiegers. "We lost many young men fighting beside the Americans who left us now to face this attack by those jihadists," said Nadia Omar, 56, a Kurd who fled to the city of Kobani to escape fighting in the countryside. "Why did we sacrifice our men to fight ISIS with U.S. soldiers who are providing no security for us? I and many others from my village feel betrayed by what the Americans did to us." Tens of thousands of Kurds have fled the fighting around Kobani and sought protection in the town. There is no electricity to heat the homes against the bitter north Syrian winter cold, and no water. Although the town is near the border with Turkey, the Turks have assisted the military campaign against the Kurdish enclave in northeast Syria that emerged over the past decade during the civil war. The campaign has already resulted in large swathes of the Kurdish-controlled territory falling to the Syrian army, along with prisons and camps housing ISIS inmates and their relatives. The Kurds have accused Sharaa's forces, which include many former jihadists, of committing atrocities against them during the campaign. haraa's forces are now besieging Kobani and their goal is to end the experiment of Kurdish self-rule in eastern Syria.