After the US withdrawal .. Kurdish official threatens to resort to the Syrian regime

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Kurdish-led authorities in northern Syria may start talks with Damascus and Moscow to fill any security vacuum if US troops withdraw completely from the border with Turkey, a Syrian Kurdish official said on Tuesday.

"If the US empties the region, especially the border area, of course we as an autonomous administration and the SDF are forced to study all the options available," Badran Jia Kurd, an official with the Syrian Democratic Forces, told Reuters.

He added, "We can then discuss with Damascus and the Russian side to fill the vacuum and repel the Turkish attack.

Jia Kurd's comments reflected the impasse faced by Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria following the partial withdrawal of US forces that were effectively protecting the region from the Turkish offensive. The SDF called Washington's decision a "backstabbing".

The United States withdrew 50 special forces from a section of the Turkish border on Monday, paving the way for Ankara to carry out a long-running operation against Syrian-led forces it considers a terrorist organization.

The SDF-led Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) are a large part of a US-led campaign against ISIS.

Ankara said on Saturday it had completed preparations for a military operation in the northeast, and considered the YPG as a terrorist organization for its links to Kurdish militants who have been waging a long-running insurgency in the Turkish state.

The Kurdish-led administration found itself in a similar position in late 2018 when US President Donald Trump announced his decision to withdraw his troops from Syria. SDF forces held talks in Damascus but collapsed without progress.

Despite hostility between the Kurds of Syria and Damascus - the result of systematic persecution of Kurds for years under the Baathist administration - the dominant Syrian Kurdish groups rarely fought the Damascus government during the war.

While the Syrian opposition is fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, the YPG says its priority is to maintain its autonomy within the Syrian state.

But Damascus refuses to allow the Kurds the autonomy they seek. This year, the government has threatened US-backed Kurdish forces to defeat them unless they agree to return to state power.