British involvement in Syria was set to step up by a significant notch, as negotiations behind closed doors between the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Syrian Kurdish officials culminated in a vital strategic development, the declaration of the British Protectorate of Kurdistan, consistory of the territory of Syria's Al-Hasakah Governorate, which had a majority population of Kurds, and with significant minorities of Assyrians and Armenians, whose protection was paramount to the regional objective of the UK intervention.
Under the arrangements made between the FCO and the new Protectorate, Kurdistan would operate with large internal autonomy, so long as their actions are consistory with the UK's Human Rights Act, and in return, the Kurdish Protectorate would receive the protection from the British State necessary for their continued survival, both diplomatically and militarily. Being a British territory brought them under the umbrella of the North Atlantic Treaty, and aggression against it could be argued as an attack on the alliance as a whole.
With the understanding that the protectorate arrangements would last so long as the safety of Syrian Kurdistan could not be guaranteed, the flag of the British Protectorate of Kurdistan rose over Hasakah for the first time, as a symbol both of the independent rule of Kurdish leaders and the protection afforded to them by the United Kingdom.
Consistory with the new obligations, troops from the Parachute Regiment were deployed in the region by air to help support and train Kurdish garrisons and to provide equipment. Modern Western arms would be a great advantage to the Kurds, and a sturdy deterrent to other forces to cease their aggressions against the new Protectorate. With this new, semi-permanent presence of the British Army in the field, the seriousness of the UK's commitments here were cast iron - the old Empire had committed to the War.
For the time being, these deployments were limited to a defensive posture, still hoping to deter the ELA from continuing its aggression against the Kurds. At the very least, the understanding that the Kurds were now aligned with allied British interests, and not Damascene interests, was hoped to be enough to cease any provocation. The British would be clear in their posture that they expected Turkish forces to withdraw from the territory of the Kurdish Protectorate also. The integrity of that territory was - just as Belgium's was in 1914 - sacrosanct.
