JAKARTA - Kurdish residents in northeastern Syria have warned Iranian Kurdish groups not to ally with the United States (US) in responding to conflicts in the Middle East. They emphasized that history has proven that Kurds are abandoned in US-backed battles.
The warning comes amid growing concerns over betrayals and lack of guarantees for Iran's Kurdish region.
Iranian Kurdish militias based in northern Iraq have consulted with the US in recent days, discussing attacking security forces in western Iran, while the US and Israel have bombarded Iran with airstrikes.
But Syrian Kurds warned their Iranian Kurdish counterparts against partnering with Washington.
"I hope the Iranian Kurds will not ally with the Americans, because they will abandon them," said Saad Ali, a 45-year-old resident of the Kurdish city of Qamishli in northeastern Syria, quoted by Reuters via The Jerusalem Post.
"Tomorrow, if an agreement is reached between them [the US] and [Kurds] Iran, they will eliminate you. Don't repeat our mistakes," he said.
Syrian Kurdish fighters allied with the US to fight the IS group more than a decade ago. They established their own semi-autonomous zone in the territory they had seized from ultra-conservative Islamist fighters.
But in January 2026, the new Syrian army under the command of President Ahmed al-Sharaa who took office at the beginning of 2025, carried out a massive military operation to seize most of the Kurdish-led territory. The Syrian Kurds then asked the US to intervene on their behalf. However, they were betrayed.
Instead of having their territory returned, the Syrian Kurds were asked by the US to join the Syrian President's forces. This left a scar and became a bitter experience for the Syrian Kurds and a lesson that they believe the Iranian Kurds should pay attention to.
"In my opinion, the Kurds in Iran should maintain a firm stance: they will not engage in any war in Iranian territory without a firm written guarantee from the United States regarding the future of Kurdish territory in Iran," said Amjad Kardo, a 26-year-old Syrian Kurd in Qamishli.
"We, the Kurds in Syria, in particular, have negative experiences with the Americans in Syria, and their abandonment of the Kurdish resistance movement," he continued.
An Iranian Kurdish source said Kurdish leaders were indeed worried about being "betrayed" like Kurdish groups in northern Syria.
The source said Iranian Kurdish leaders had asked for assurances from the US, without specifying what those assurances were.
US President Donald Trump told Reuters on Thursday 5 March that it would be "extraordinary" if Kurdish forces crossed the border from northern Iraq into Iran. However, Trump refused to answer questions about whether the US would offer air support if Kurdish forces did.
On Saturday, March 7, Trump seemed to change his mind, telling reporters that he did not want Kurdish fighters to enter Iran.
Message to fellow Kurds
The head of the Kurdish Progressive Democratic Party in Syria, Ahmed Barakat, said that Iranian Kurdish forces must be "very careful."
However, Barakat said that ultimately the decision is up to the Iranian Kurds. However, he stressed that "accepting the US invitation and being considered as a spearhead in confronting or weakening the Iranian regime, at this time, is not the best interest of the Iranian Kurds."
Last week, Reuters reported that Israel had been approaching the Iranian Kurdish rebel group based in the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan for about a year.
Kurds are an ethnic group that lost their citizenship a century ago when the modern Middle East borders emerged from the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
Mostly Sunni Muslims, they speak a language related to Farsi and are concentrated in mountainous regions stretching across the borders of Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey.
In Iraq, they inhabit three northern provinces led by their own regional governments. But in other countries - Iran, Turkey, and now Syria - their dreams of autonomous regions or states are far from reality.
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