On October 6th the Trump Administration drastically modified its policy on the U.S. Military presence in Syria. The Trump Administration allowed Turkey to take a more aggressive role in Kurdish-held territories backed by American troops, and also withdrew American troops from key locations in Kurdish-held Syria. Despite the success of the raid that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, many foreign policy analysts believe that the United States has lost its foothold in combating the Assad Regime and preventing the spread of ISIS in the region. The United States’ longtime ally in the region, the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has lost ground to Turkey, a NATO ally of the United States.
