Suwayda violence boosts Kurds’ leverage as US Syria envoy, SDF chief meet
Syria's Kurds remain hesitant about integration with Damascus as interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa struggles with unrest in Suwayda.
The July 19 meeting in Amman between US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack and the commander in chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazlum Kobane, went markedly better than their first face-to-face encounter 10 days earlier in Damascus, with the sectarian violence that's gripping the majority-Druze province of Suwayda temporarily strengthening the Kurds’ hand, four sources familiar with the substance of the meeting told Al-Monitor. “Barrack was nicer; the ice between them was broken,” one of the sources said, without elaborating.
A follow-up meeting, potentially in Paris, is being planned, and French President Emmanuel Macron may attend, two of the sources said. The goal of the meeting would be to announce tangible progress in integrating the SDF and the Kurds’ civilian institutions into the central government, as part of a US-led effort to bolster Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, as he seeks to assert full control over his war-fractured country. France, which takes a historical interest in Syria and has strong ties to the Kurds, has been facilitating an SDF rapprochement with Damascus.
Barrack hinted at a deal in an interview with the Associated Press on Monday, saying that he did not believe the violence in Suwayda had “derailed” talks between the SDF and Damascus and that there could be a “breakthrough” in the coming weeks. A State Department official speaking on background to Al-Monitor said they did not have “anything to preview regarding any potential travel” for Barrack.
The Kurds are now in a stronger negotiating position, the sources contended — just as they were in March, when Sharaa faced his first major crisis since coming to power in December. That month more than 1,000 people, mainly Alawite civilians, were killed as Sunni gunmen swept through Syria’s coastal areas in retaliation for attacks carried out by remnants of the regime of ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad. Sharaa swiftly met with Kobane on March 10 — after months of avoiding him — and signed an agreement outlining the framework for unifying both the Kurds’ autonomous administration and the SDF with Damascus.
