I have looked at some of the photos from the East and Western Fronts. As expected they show raggedy taggedy ill equipped SDF units on foot in Raqqa outskirts BUT they are walking in close proximity to each other with tall buildings nearby. This would not be the case if there were ISIS fighting positions in the vicinity.
Developments to the South including the developing conflict between the US and Iranian militias is of concern. In these very sparsely populated areas the conflict is over oil & gas but as usual the complexities are far greater than that. Notwithstanding that reality there are ongoing links between the PYD and the Assad Regime indeed links all over the place.
My preferred approach for the US would be for parties to leave most of the land to the south of the Euphrates to the Alawite regime and focus on nation building within a "Federated" North. With the battlefield elimination of ISIS pending I would like to see this war over ...... wishful thinking as that may be.
Strangely, the Turkish influenced KDP in Iraq is seeking meetings with the self declared Northern Syrian Federation and there have been some overtures by the Turkish CHP party towards the PYD. I can't pick the post-ISIS direction for the moment and I certainly can't predict Erdogan's next mood swing. As for Trump .... he needs to rely on Brett McGurk's strategic advice on these fronts.
