Lots of words have been spilled about Trump’s decision to withdraw American troops in Syria to provide Turkey with unimpeded access to Northern Syria. Those American troops, limited to a couple thousand mainly worked with the Kurds, who did most of the actual fighting, in removing ISIS control in the area. The American troops were mainly a “trip wire” to prevent a Turkish invasion. With American troops gone there was nothing to stop the Turkish invasion and it started the very next day after Trump’s announcement. Furthermore, the Kurds have no incentive to continue to hold onto the thousands of ISIS fighters they are holding. Releasing them could cause havoc all around the Mideast.
This left our allies, the Kurds, pretty defenseless in the face of a modern Turkish army with artillery, tanks etc. Turkey has long wanted to reduce the Kurdish influence on their borders as well as any influence the Kurds may have in Turkey proper.
However, Trump’s announcement of leaving the Mideast and it’s stupid wars as well as abandoning a long time ally has reverberated all around the region. Israel is not too worried since they believe Trump cannot abandon them without losing the evangelical Christian voters. However, the Trump opinion has unsettled the Arab states of Saudi Arabia and the smaller Gulf States. The Arab states are no longer sure that America will come to their rescue in a confrontation with Iran or another war within their ranks. Pushed by the Gulf states, the Saudis have opened a dialogue with Iran to come to some sort of agreement on spheres of influence in the region and to prevent a War. After the Saudi debacle of last week where they lost 3 brigades of soldiers when they tried to invade Yemen. The Saudi’s have finally begun to understand they have a Potemkin military that probably cannot defeat anyone.
All in all, the Mideast is as crazy as it always was, but it appears that War with Iran is off the table for now, both by the U.S. as well as any Arab states.