A slew of whirlwind developments that have seen President Donald Trump meet with Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and declare that the United States will lift crippling sanctions on Syria are being watched closely by the Pentagon’s key ally, the Kurdish-led Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, as it prepares to negotiate its future status with Damascus. Trump wants Sharaa to normalize relations with Israel and expel Palestinian and other foreign jihadis from his country in return for easing sanctions, which have starved war-ravaged Syria of desperately needed foreign investment.

The effective empowering of Sharaa — a former jihadi whom, after meeting him on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia, Trump described as “a young, attractive guy, [a] tough guy” who has “a real shot at pulling it together” in Syria — marks a sea change. The potential easing of US sanctions is a double-edged sword for the Kurds. For example, if and when they are removed, pressure will grow for the Kurds to relinquish control of oil and gas fields under their control.

Since 2014, when the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces formed their game-changing alliance with Washington against the Islamic State (ISIS), Syria’s Kurds have been the darlings of the Pentagon and international media.

The partnership, which resulted in the destruction of ISIS’ “caliphate” in 2019, was sustained despite fierce opposition from Turkey, a key NATO ally that labeled the SDF and its commander in chief, Mazloum Kobane, as “terrorists” because of their links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).