The Assad regime ruled Syria with brutality for decades. Less than a week after Syrian rebels toppled the regime, the U.S. got to work to prevent ISIS from filling the void.
While rebels from the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) and the Free Syrian Army have begun to form a new government in the capital Damascus, dozens of other organizations are trying to win control in different parts of the country.
Efforts to keep ISIS at bay
In that chaos, the U.S. launched dozens of airstrikes on ISIS targets.
The groups competing for power in Syria have a complicated mix of allies. The U.S., for example, relies on the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a group made up mostly of fighters who are ethnically Kurdish.
Syria’s neighbor Turkey has its own domestic issues with Kurds looking for independence and considers the SDF a terrorist organization.
Both the U.S. and Turkey supported the fall of the Assad regime, but Turkey backed different groups looking to take over. Those groups have launched attacks on the SDF.
In the face of the attacks, a top SDF commander told CNN the group needed to move some of the ISIS detainees held in more than 20 prisons and camps across Syria. The commander said they’ve had to stop most of their anti-ISIS activities to fight the Turkish-backed rebels.
ISIS resurgence threats
ISIS came out of yearslong hiding in Syria. The SDF’s top commander said they’ve seen more ISIS activity in areas under SDF control.
U.S. officials are talking with Turkish counterparts to try to ensure the conflict doesn’t let ISIS rebuild in Syria.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Turkey for meetings with the country’s government about Syria’s uncertainty.
The U.S. has about 900 troops stationed in Syria to help anti-ISIS groups keep the terrorist organization from trying to establish another caliphate.
President-elect Donald Trump may change that. He said last week the U.S. “should have nothing to do with” the situation in Syria.
