Middle East Eye reported that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has intensified outreach to Kurdish communities following a series of fast-moving political and military developments that reshaped power dynamics in northern Syria. According to Kurdish and Syrian sources cited by the publication, the latest engagement unfolded against the backdrop of shifting U.S. policy, renewed government advances, and rising tensions with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Ahmed al-Sharaa’s Kobane Meeting Signals Kurdish Outreach Amid Northern Syria Power Realignment
During an unannounced visit early last week to the Tabqa Dam, recently taken over by Syrian government forces, Sharaa held a private meeting with 15 intellectual and influential Kurdish figures from Kobane, a city long symbolic in the fight against the so-called Islamic State group. Kurdish sources said the invitees represented a wide political spectrum, including individuals close to the SDF and others opposed to it. In the meeting, Sharaa underscored his commitment to implementing his newly announced declaration recognizing Kurdish civil and cultural rights and conveyed readiness to engage with all Kurdish constituencies within a unified Syrian state. The same sources said he criticized SDF leadership, asserting that their priorities centered on territorial control rather than Kurdish rights, and emphasized his determination to end fighting and preserve national unity. Participants reportedly left feeling largely reassured by these pledges, while remaining cautious about unresolved political questions.
U.S. Policy Shift, Ceasefire Strains, and the Aftermath of Damascus Talks
The outreach followed weeks of significant changes on the ground after Washington redirected its backing toward Sharaa’s transitional government, a move critics said reduced Kurdish leverage. Syrian government forces subsequently regained control of key cities including Aleppo, Raqqa, and Deir Ezzor, along with major oil fields, dams, agricultural areas, and detention facilities holding suspected Islamic State fighters, some of whom were transferred to Iraq for legal proceedings. These developments came after an 18 January ceasefire agreement brokered by U.S. envoy Tom Barrack. Syrian sources said SDF commander Mazloum Abdi traveled to Damascus on 19 January for lengthy talks with Sharaa but hesitated to implement the agreement, reverting to demands for regional autonomy and alternative terms for SDF integration. Barrack, who attended part of the meeting, was said to have departed in frustration and briefed Washington on the impasse. Sources added that President Donald Trump later contacted Sharaa, stressing Syria’s unity and sovereignty and urging the securing of Islamic State detention centers vacated without coordination. Neither the Syrian government nor the SDF has publicly commented on these accounts, and the U.S. State Department did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.