U.S. envoy visited Kurdish-held Syrian north

By Tom Perry and Arshad Mohammed

Brett McGurk, the United States' new envoy to the coalition it leads against Islamic State, speaks to reporters during a news conference at the U.S. embassy in a heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, December 9, 2015.

A senior U.S. official visited northern Syria at the weekend to assess progress in the fight against Islamic State, in what appeared to be the first declared visit to Syrian territory for several years by an official from U.S. President Barack Obama's administration.

The Syrian Kurds have established control over wide areas of northern Syria since the eruption of the country's war in 2011, and their YPG militia has become a major partner in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State.

The trip by Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the coalition against Islamic State, may anger neighboring Turkey which is alarmed by the growing sway of Syria's Kurds, fearing it could fuel separatist sentiment among its own Kurdish population.

"We can confirm that Special Presidential Envoy Brett McGurk completed a two day visit to northern Syria this weekend to assess progress in the campaign to degrade and destroy ISIL," the U.S. official said, using an acronym for Islamic State.

"This visit and the discussions he had are in keeping with the Special Envoy's efforts to continue looking for ways to increase coalition pressure on ISIL," the official said.

Fred Hof, a Syria expert with the Atlantic Council think tank, said to his knowledge this was the first declared visit to Syria by a U.S. government official since the February 2012 closure of the U.S. embassy in Damascus.

The Syrian Kurdish official told Reuters McGurk landed at a Kurdish-controlled airport being used by U.S. military helicopters for logistical purposes and deliveries.

McGurk was received by officials including the prime minister of one of three autonomous regions, or cantons, the Syrian Kurds have set up in northern Syria.

In a statement posted on Youtube, Akram Hasso, head of the administration of Jazeera province, said McGurk's delegation was 17 strong and included representatives of France and Britain.

He also said they visited Kobani, a Syrian Kurdish town at the Turkish border that was the focus of a months-long battle between the YPG and Islamic State.

Arshad, Mohammed, and Tom Perry. "U.S. envoy visited Kurdish-held Syrian north." Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 1 Feb. 2016. Web. 1 Feb. 2016.

Response
I can still recall the heated controversy that came with the deployment of peshmerga troops in the fight with ISIL. That was nearly a year ago, and the Kurds, in Iraq and Syria, have proven themselves to be one of the more effective, organised, and consistent military forces in the Levant.

To Western eyes, they have always represented a more moderate and trustworthy ally, accused of no major war crimes and fighting for a sympathetic cause. Yet the move is likely to alienate the Erdogan administration, as to them, an autonomous Kurdish minority is a threat to Turkish stability--a fact made more understandable when considering the violent tactics employed by Kurdish terrorist groups like the PKK.

The fairly controversial political gesture, then, communicates two things to me. Firstly, that the Kurds, or at least the YPG, may have earned a seat at the table for their gains in Syria (an advantage they will press in their campaign for autonomy). Secondly, that the Obama administration may be worrying about the effectiveness of its air strikes and may be considering sending more specialists into the area--with increasing domestic pressure and the U.S. troop withdrawal last year, Obama may be seeking to indirectly escalate American involvement on the ground (though I see that as future fuel for a proxy war with Russia).

However, it may be early to speculate at this point. In any case, the writer seems favourably disposed towards the Kurds, mentioning its successes multiple times as well as the iconic battle of Kobani--a viewpoint that I happen to share.