Adversaries would use visible Israeli backing to brand Kurdish forces as foreign proxies, inviting harsher repression and widening the target set to Kurdish communities beyond Syria and into Iran and Iraq.
Against the backdrop of balancing multiple interests and moving parts and the lesser of all evils, as policymakers fear the costs of public intervention would outweigh gains and could worsen already poor outcomes for the Kurds themselves.
Israel’s highest priorities remain the Iranian front and the effort to dismantle Hezbollah’s military capability. These goals require sustained military focus and coordination with Washington.
Opening a visible front in northeast Syria would dilute that focus and create new liabilities. The timing of the Turkish-backed Syrian offensive against Kurdish forces appears calibrated to this reality.
