US does not want autonomous Kurdish region in Syria: Fmr US envoy to Syria

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - The last US Ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, held an exclusive interview with Kurdistan24 on Thursday, where he gave his thoughts on strategic American objectives in the Middle East.

Ford discussed the escalating proxy conflicts in the region that are seen as a repercussion of the ongoing Gaza conflict.

“If [the US] escalates in a major way, it will be impossible for them to destroy the militias in Iraq, and Syria and Iran can always rebuild the militias. So the Americans are in an uncomfortable position,” he said, while noting “An American withdrawal from Syria and Iraq of course will benefit in military terms Iran and also the Syrian government in Damascus, but the Syrian government in Damascus is very weak and it cannot control even Homs Province from ISIS.”

“Iraqi Prime Minister Sudani is interested in finding some kind of an agreement with the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) and so what will happen if American forces withdraw is there will be negotiations between Erbil and Baghdad,” Ford continued

New reports emerged on Thursday that Iraqi leadership is reassessing its relationship with the International Coalition and the US, citing American airstrikes against Kata’ib Hezbollah and other Iran-backed factions as harming the national interests and sovereignty of Iraq.

Those US airstrikes came in response to the latest attack, reportedly the 107th, on a US military installation by militias, which critically wounded one service member, requiring an emergency transport to the Landstuhl military hospital in Germany.

Read More: Attack on Erbil Air Base leaves no casualties or damage: Pentagon official

The former diplomat also discussed developments in Syria, specifically the aspirations of the country's Kurdish population.

“The Washington agenda is about fighting the Islamic State, or Daesh. The Washington agenda is not to help establish an autonomous region in eastern Syria,” Ford noted.

He later explained that creating an autonomous entity within Syria would damage bilateral American-Turkish relations, and that the US needs help from its NATO ally, Turkey, in aiding Ukraine.

Between Oct. 5-10, Turkish airstrikes damaged more than half of Kurdish-held northeast Syria's power and oil infrastructure, dealing a blow to its petroleum energy-dependent economy. The strikes on more than 150 locations in north and east Syria in the governorates of Hasakeh, Raqqa, and Aleppo, killed dozens of people including civilians, and damaged civilian structures, civic groups said at the time. 

Read More: Turkey claims ‘neutralization’ of 30 PKK fighters in Operation Claw-Lock