Syrian President and Kurdish militia leader fail to meet during US envoy's Damascus visit

President Ahmad Al Shara and a Syrian Kurdish militia leader failed to meet as expected on Wednesday during a visit to Damascus by US special envoy Thomas Barrack, sources said.

It was a setback to US-sponsored moves to resolve the biggest obstacle to reuniting Syria after its 13-year civil war.

The sources did not reveal why the meeting in Damascus did not go ahead between Mr Al Shara and Mazloum Abdi, the head of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces militia that controls large parts of eastern Syria.

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The two were expected to discuss ways to bring the SDF under the control of the Syrian army command. “We are more far away from a grand bargain,” an SDF official told The National.

Mr Barrack held a meeting with Mr Al Shara, state media said, without revealing details of their discussions.

The SDF official said Mr Abdi had gone to Damascus confident that there would be no “sidelining of the SDF”.

The official said the SDF has been buoyed by the Pentagon's allocation of $130 million for groups in Syria with which it has linked up in counter-ISIS operations, mainly the SDF, in its 2026 budget.

Mr Barrack told AP after meetings in Damascus that significant differences remain between the two sides. He also told Rudaw Media Network that the SDF has been "slow" in negotiating with the Syrian government and that federalism "doesn't work."

“I think SDF has been slow in accepting and negotiating and moving towards that, and my advice to them is to speed that,” Mr Barrack said. “There is only one road and that road is to Damascus.”

US backing for the SDF has prevented Mr Al Shara from consolidating his control over the country since the removal of his predecessor Bashar Al Assad in December.

The March 10 agreement between Mr Al Shara and Mr Abdi faltered after the SDF convened a conference of Kurdish political groups in April that demanded that Syria be governed under a federal system.

“It is neither in the interest of Al Shara or any of the international players for the SDF to weaken, because it would mean the resurgence of ISIS,” the official said.

He said Mr Barrack had proposed that the SDF becomes formally part of the Syrian armed forces but retains its Kurdish commanders, a “symbolic” arrangement akin to Syrian armed groups that are proxies of Turkey joining the army in February. Many of these units retained their command structure and their Turkmen commanders.

However, the SDF's position as Washington's main ally in Syria has been undermined after US began normalising ties with its new government in May, and putting more focus on stabilising the country.

The US lifted sanctions on Syria last month and on Monday revoked the terror designation of the hardline Hayat Tahrir Al Sham rebel group, a former affiliate of Al Qaeda, to which Mr Al Shara and many members of the new government belonged.

Turkey, a major backer of Mr Al Shara's government, considers the SDF a separatist group that threatens its national security, because of its ties with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which waged a 40-year insurgency against the Turkish state.

Turkey is involved in a process to disarm and dissolve the PKK.

Omer Ozkizilcik, a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council, said the US was using its sway to urge the SDF to accept integration into Damascus-controlled armed forces.

“The March 10 agreement was not proceeding due to stalling by the SDF,” he told The National. “It appears that the US is using its influence to move things forward and force the SDF to accommodate the demands of Damascus."

Both Damascus and Ankara, which has significant influence over the new Syrian authorities, had given the SDF "olive branches," including some form of local governance, he added.

“But they thought they are in a position to dictate terms.”