WhatsappSyrian forces are positioning for a major push in eastern Aleppo, with armor and infantry massed around Deir Hafer and Maskanah and artillery already working to soften the ground. The objective is blunt and familiar: force Kurdish units east of the Euphrates and reassert control over a corridor that has long frustrated Damascus and Ankara alike.
This is unfolding despite a late-night appeal from the U.S. Central Command commander calling for restraint. On the ground, that appeal has translated into exactly nothing. Artillery is speaking, and it is speaking loudly.
At the center of this pressure campaign sits Abu Mohammad al-Julani—undeterred, ideologically committed, and emboldened by Turkish sponsorship. Julani has never hidden his intent to break Kurdish autonomy west of the Euphrates. What’s different now is the convergence: Syrian regime units, Turkish-backed forces, and jihadist networks all pushing in the same direction.
The Question Everyone Avoids: Will Israel Help the SDF?
This is where analysts tend to get timid. They shouldn’t.
Israel has zero illusions about Julani. A strengthened jihadist axis in northern Syria—especially one aligned with Ankara and probing U.S.-protected Kurdish zones—is not a local problem. It is a regional one.
So could Israel help the Syrian Democratic Forces?
Not overtly. Not with flags or fighter jets. But quietly? Absolutely.
And Israel already knows how this game is played.
How Israel Would Help — If It Decides To
First: Intelligence.
Israel’s ISR coverage over Syria is deeper than anyone else’s. Feeding the SDF precise intelligence—via U.S. channels—on troop concentrations, artillery batteries, and logistics routes would immediately raise the cost of any Julani-led advance. The Kurds don’t need Israeli soldiers. They need eyes.
Second: Electronic and cyber disruption.
Julani’s forces and Turkish-backed units rely on coordination, comms, and increasingly, drones. Israel excels at making those systems unreliable at critical moments. No press release. No fingerprints. Just friction where momentum is supposed to be.
Third: Strategic signaling through Washington.
Israel doesn’t need to confront Ankara directly to shape outcomes. A firmer U.S. posture around eastern Aleppo—clearer red lines, less ambiguity—would be enough to slow the offensive. Israel has influence here, and it knows it.
Can This Actually Stop Julani?
Let’s be precise. Israeli help would not “defeat” Julani in some cinematic sense. That’s not the point.
What it can do is deny him a clean victory.
Julani thrives when Kurdish forces are isolated, politically boxed in, and treated as expendable. Once that isolation breaks—even partially—his advance becomes costlier, messier, and slower. Momentum matters in these campaigns. Strip it away, and the whole operation starts to wobble.
And there’s a deeper layer here: Israel has a strategic interest in preventing jihadist consolidation anywhere near U.S.-protected zones. Today it’s eastern Aleppo. Tomorrow it’s pressure further east. Allowing Julani to score an uncontested win only invites the next escalation.
Bottom Line
Israel is unlikely to announce anything. It doesn’t need to.
But if Julani believes he can roll the Kurds east of the Euphrates without consequence, he is likely misreading the board. Quiet Israeli assistance—intelligence, disruption, and pressure through Washington—would not only help the SDF hold the line. It would remind every actor in northern Syria that jihadist ambition does not expand in a vacuum.
That alone may be enough to change the trajectory of this fight.
