THE Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces called on the United States not to withdraw its troops from Syria today, saying that doing so would “create a political and military void in the region and leave its people between the claws of enemy forces.”

The group, dominated by the People’s Protection Units (YPG) which has fought a bitter war against the Islamic State (Isis) terror group for the last four years, said US President Donald Trump was wrong to claim that Isis had been beaten, when actually the war against it was at a “decisive” stage.

Having established self-government in parts of Syria in the course of the Syrian war, the Kurdish group has two fears — a Turkish invasion, which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to launch imminently, and a possible loss of autonomy if the Bashar al-Assad government in Damascus, which has routed jihadist opponents across most of the rest of Syria, is able to re-establish its own authority across the country.

Kurdish journalist Arin Sheikhmos claimed that without the US military presence in Syria, which is illegal under international law, “our destiny will be like the Kurds of Iraqi Kurdistan in 1991. There will be massacres.”

He argued that Kurdish autonomy would never be accepted by Turkey, Syria or Iran.

Syrian MP Peter Marjana welcomed the prospect of a US withdrawal, which has yet to be officially confirmed by the Pentagon or White House, saying it was a “recognition that Syria has won” the seven-year war that began with domestic protests against Mr Assad’s government but rapidly became a global battleground where fanatical jihadists from around the world fought the Syrian army, YPG and Lebanese Hezbollah forces.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would “intensify” Israel’s role in the conflict to make up for any reduction in the US presence. 

Israel would “continue to act very aggressively against Iran’s attempts to entrench in Syria,” he added vaguely.

Damascus has accused Israel of helping to patch up wounded jihadists so they can return to the fray, and says that its periodic air raids on Syrian or Hezbollah targets amount in effect to support for the radical terror groups that government forces and their allies are fighting.