At this point, the rump of the forces of what Obama chose is the Kurds and some Arab allies who are the troops who will take Raqqa. Since many people have denied they even exist as a fighting force and that they’re any different than ISIS, it’s going to be great to see them finish ISIS. The rest of Syria really now belongs to Hezbollah, Iran, Russian, and nominally to Assad. Assad supporters will be getting what they want. The Kurds will likely be abandoned once they’ve defeated ISIS. After all, Assad, his supporters will tell us, supports Christianity with his KGB buddy Putin and the mad mullahs of Iran, and he’s the sovereign by virtue of his birth and his father’s previous many cruelties. The good news, if one sees it this way, is that Syria as a state will be little threat to others beyond the fact that Russia has an agreement for permanent naval bases now on the Mediterranean, which should make American-hating, pro-Putin people very happy.
I don’t look at this as negative as you do. I think the Kurds (SDF) will do their part and will surprise you.
SDF took Manbij (fairly large town) from ISIS with no armor and lost 500 of their soldiers taking it with small arms. It was not a majority Kurdish city, and the local government now is mixed.
Then Erdogan wanted to kill them for it.