From the article:
Here is today’s Foreign Policy brief: Confusion follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s shock announcement on Syria, indigenous protests paralyze Ecuador, and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan heads to Beijing.
What Will Happen in Northern Syria?
The unexpected announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump that the United States would reduce its troop presence in northern Syria to make way for a Turkish incursion surprised defense officials and appeared to leave Syria’s Kurds on their own. But it is not yet clear what the U.S. drawdown—or a Turkish invasion—will look like.
Senior Pentagon leaders unanimously opposed Trump’s decision, as FP’s Lara Seligman reports, and Kurdish officials told the Washington Post that they hope they can stop or delay the U.S. troop withdrawal. (Trump’s previous promises to withdraw troops have been met with similar resistance.) 'Maybe the situation could still change,' one senior Kurdish official said.
What about the Islamic State? While the Turkish military poses an immediate threat to the Kurds, Kurdish leaders have warned that their efforts to hold off the Islamic State insurgency could suffer if Turkey invades. The Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have already relocated some fighters along the Turkish border. A U.S. official said Monday it expects Turkey to take charge of prisons holding former Islamic State fighters if the SDF withdraws.
Driving displacement. A Turkish incursion—as well as ensuing violence between Turkish and SDF forces—'would very likely displace large numbers of Kurds, who would head elsewhere in Syria or into Iraq,' Jeremy Konyndyk, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, wrote in an email. 'There are also large [internally displaced] populations in SDF-held areas who would be displaced anew if violence flares,' he added.