U.S. special envoy for Syria meets with Syrian Democratic Forces chief amid rising tensions

U.S. Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack met Thursday with the leader of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces after days of clashes between Syrian troops and the SDF.

Mr. Barrack met with SDF chief Mazloum Abdi in the northeastern Iraqi city of Erbil, a Kurdish stronghold, according to reports in Turkish media. Mr. Barrack reportedly used the meeting to reaffirm the U.S. position that the SDF fully integrate into the Syrian military.

The meeting comes after a harsh statement from Mr. Barrack on Tuesday in which he wrote that the SDF’s role in fighting the Islamic State had “largely expired” and that the U.S. will not support an independent SDF inside Syria.

As one of Washington’s key partners during the nearly 15-year Syrian civil war, the SDF provided stability to the northeastern region of the country and committed resources to fighting IS with the help of U.S. weapons and intelligence.

But that relationship has changed dramatically since the fall of the Bashar Assad government in December 2024 and the rise of President Ahmad al-Sharra.

The U.S. has thrown its full support behind Mr. al-Sharaa’s government, hosting the leader at the White House and pushing for the removal of restrictive Western sanctions.

U.S. officials, including Mr. Barrack and Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, in March brokered an agreement between Damascus and the SDF that would have seen the Kurdish forces integrate into the regular Syrian army by the end of 2025.

However, long-held suspicions among SDF troops stalled the deal’s implementation, and scattered clashes between Syrian forces and SDF fighters stymied progress. The deadliest clashes occurred in Aleppo, where the SDF had retained partial control after the fall of Mr. Assad.

Damascus repeatedly blamed SDF leaders for the stall, accusing Mr. Abdi of refusing to accept reasonable demands. The SDF’s negotiating tactics deeply frustrated U.S. diplomats, including Mr. Barrack, according to reports.

The SDF maintains that it was attempting to negotiate a deal that would provide the most security for Kurdish forces and citizens in Syria. Many within the SDF grew concerned that a centralized government in Damascus, led by a former Islamist, would eventually lead to sectarian violence directed at Kurds, especially if the SDF had laid down their arms and joined the Syrian military.

Mr. al-Sharaa’s government has faced intense domestic and international criticism for several incidents of sectarian violence last year directed at Druze, Christian, Alawite and Kurdish minority groups.

Intense fighting broke out earlier this month between Damascus and the SDF in Aleppo, which culminated in a ceasefire facilitating the evacuation of SDF fighters.

The fighters decamped across the Euphrates River to other SDF-controlled areas in northeastern Syria. They were pursued by Syrian government forces, which now control most of the Raqqa, Deir al-Zor and Hasakah provinces.

The territory was initially captured from IS by the SDF during Syria’s civil war. It contains some of the country’s most lucrative oil fields and farming regions.

The territory is also home to prisons that hold hundreds of Islamic State captives.

The SDF has retreated to mostly Kurdish-majority regions in northeastern Syria and is operating under a four-day ceasefire reached Tuesday. The agreement gave the SDF four days to finalize a plan to merge the organization’s forces into the Syrian army or face more hostilities from Damascus.

The collapse of the SDF’s power in Syria came as a surprise to the organization’s leadership, which spent the days leading up to this week’s ceasefire lobbying for intervention from the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS.

Mr. Abdi, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, confirmed that his calls to U.S. officials had gone unanswered.

President Trump on Tuesday publicly backed Mr. al-Sharaa’s campaign against the SDF, saying the Syrian leader is working “very hard.” He added that the U.S. is doing what it could to protect Kurds in the region.