Syria, eyeing role as Middle East hub, offers options to bypass Hormuz
washingtonpost.com
washingtonpost.com
The Kurds who live there are realists, and always knew that Turkey would veto any sort of independent state - but the West encouraged them to believe they could remain at least semi-autonomous in the post-Assad world, perhaps similar to the situation in Iraq's Kurdistan Region...
...that was until the US pulled the rug from under them in January, "facilitating" their full integration into a unitary Syria. Then, just a few weeks later, they wondered why their cousins in Iran failed to rise up in aid of the US war against the Islamic Republic!
And since the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, 7 months into that "2 week" war, it now turns out that the best alternative route is at the mercy of those pissed-off Kurds. Just how well do they expect that to work out?
The whole thing is such an absurdly egregious failure to think and act strategically. Schoolkids could do a better job.
Edit: this one, I guess. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgrzd76p4lo
I don't think the Kurds could have held out against the new Syrian government for much longer anyway, but the sudden, unexpected discontinuation of American support meant that they had no leverage when it came to negotiate the terms of their reintegration.
It's a pity - they were trying very hard to be the most pro-US force in the region. Barrack essentially is just taking the Turkish line, but that proved to have less than helpful consequences for the US in Iran.