President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria threw the operation that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Sunday into disarray, as Kurdish forces switched their efforts to battle Turkey.
"We thought that America would keep its promises," Mazlum Abdi, the commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), told The New York Times. "But in the end, there was weakness — and disappointment."
The United States turned to the Kurds to watch an isolated village in northwestern Syria where Baghdadi had been hiding for years.
The Kurdish spies also stole a pair of Baghdadi's underwear and obtained a blood sample, to be used for DNA testing and for later confirming the Islamic State leader's death, Abdi told the Times.
But the operation was jeopardized when President Trump ordered the troop withdrawal, abruptly shattering America's five-year partnership with the Kurds and leaving them ill-prepared for Turkey's assault on the region.
More than 200 people died in the Turkish attacks, delaying the raid on Baghdadi's villa as Kurdish forces shifted their efforts.
"It was a stab in the back," Nesrin Abdullah, a spokeswoman for the Kurdish women's militia, told the Times. "The Americans kept saying they would not allow the Turks to enter, but in the end that's what happened."
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.