The future of American troops in Syria is in the spotlight, as Turkey and Israel push competing agendas with the Trump administration regarding the role of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in countering the Islamic State group.
The United States' military presence in Syria has been called into question, as President Donald Trump faces conflicting pressure from Turkey and Israel over the 2000-strong US force supporting a Syrian Kurdish-led coalition.
The US force is supporting an Arab-Kurdish coalition of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in its war against the Islamic State (IS) group.
Thousands of IS militants are currently being held in SDF prisons, but the US military presence now hangs in the balance.
Turkey analyst Sinan Ciddi, of the Washington-based research institute, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies says Trump is in a dilemma because he ran on this promise of putting America first. "Getting out of foreign entanglements, not committing US troops and US money to parts of the world in which the US doesn't have any interest," he tells RFI.
However, Ciddi warns a quick withdrawal would not be without risk: "The dilemma for Trump is that in a theatre such as Syria, if he were to pull back 2,000 troops, then you've got this major security threat."
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However, a US pullout would be welcomed by its NATO ally Turkey. Ankara strongly opposes Washington's military support for the SDF, which it accuses of being linked to Kurdish insurgents fighting Turkey.
International relations expert Bilgehan Alagoz, of Istanbul's Marmara University, maintains the US deployment has poisoned relations between the two allies, but says a withdrawal by Trump would offer a reset in ties.
"I believe that there is going to be a new ground between Turkey and the United States," Alagoz said. "And Turkey will guarantee the safety of US soldiers and a successful withdrawal from Syria. So it is all going to be a kind of new negotiation between Turkey and the United States."
Until now, US soldiers in Syria have prevented the Turkish military – massed on the Syrian border – from overwhelming the SDF, but time may be running out for the Kurdish-led forces.
"Assuming that the US withdraws at one point from Syria ... this will mean the end of the diplomatic umbrella for the SDF that the US was able to put over them," according to Aydin Selcen, a former Turkish diplomat and now foreign policy analyst for Turkey's Medyascope independent news outlet.
Selcen warns that the SDF has only a small window to secure its future: "Time is of the essence for the SDF to get their act together and join forces with Damascus... to fold their forces into the Syrian armed forces, which would also satisfy Ankara's security concerns."
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has close ties with Syria's new leaders, and is demanding that the SDF disband or face a Turkish assault.
However, the Israeli government is voicing support for American backing for the SDF, given the risk posed by the Islamic State.
"We know that the SDF controls prisons in which there are around 10,000 Islamic State fighters and families," explains Gallia Lindenstrauss, a foreign policy specialist at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.
"Nobody wants to see the resurgence of the Islamic State. And I think in this respect, the US understands this is a small number of troops [and] they are effective. So why pull them out?"
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Lindenstrauss told RFI: "Israel has voiced that it does want to see the West continue supporting the Kurdish presence in northeast Syria, so there will be Israeli diplomatic efforts to keep the [US] troops there."
Israel's foreign minister, Gideon Saar, recently underlined the importance of the Syrian Kurds as an ally to Israel – a message that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to have delivered to Trump during his visit to Washington this month, Ciddi believes.
"We've seen an increase in moves by the Israeli government to provide more formal and government support for non-state actors, such as the Syrian Kurds," he said. "Because they understand that hitherto they've been entirely reliable in thwarting some of the major security concerns that the Israelis hold close to their heart."
