Key Highlights
- By Taylor Luck Special correspondent @taylor_luck Jan.
- 23, 2026, 3:21 p. m.
- ET | Amman, Jordan The days of Kurdish autonomy in Syria might be numbered following a series of failed ceasefires and a government sweep across the country’s northeast that is seen as key to securing the future of a centralized Syrian state. Syrian forces encircled Kurdish-majority towns in the region this week and issued an ultimatum to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF): Join the central state by Saturday or face a wider war. The consolidation of power also left the rights of Syrian minorities such as the Kurds in question.
- Why We Wrote This After a lightning military advance in Kurdish-held northeastern Syria, Damascus is demanding that the Kurdish-led SDF, a key U. S.
- ally in the fight against ISIS, agree to integrate into the national army.
