The president of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Nechirvan Barzani, met in Damascus today with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa for wide-ranging talks that are closely intertwined with ongoing efforts to integrate Syria’s Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and its civilian arm into the Syrian state.

The meeting, on Barzani’s first official trip to Damascus, was initiated by Sharaa, according to regional officials briefing Al-Monitor. The carefully orchestrated optics warmed Kurdish hearts well beyond Syria’s borders. Images of the giant Kurdish flag that was hoisted alongside a far smaller Iraqi one at the presidential complex in Damascus went viral on social media. The marble top of the gilt Louis XV coffee table around which the two leaders sat was carpeted with powder-pink roses, the arrangement favored by Barzani at his own palace in Erbil. Barzani was accompanied by a group of Iraqi Kurdish businessmen in line with efforts to develop economic ties between Syria and Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.

In public statements afterward, Sharaa said the two sides discussed ways to enhance cooperation “in service of stability,” while Barzani voiced confidence in Sharaa’s vision and called for a Syria where “the rights of all ethnic and religious communities are protected.” They gave no further details. Sharaa also posted a Kurmanji Kurdish translation of his statement on X.

Barzani played a big role in helping the United States broker a ceasefire between Sharaa and the SDF’s commander-in-chief, Mazlum Kobane, in January after weeks of intensive fighting between the sides saw the Kurds lose over 80% of the territory under their control. The SDF has since faced a barrage of criticism from ordinary Kurds, especially in the diaspora, for what they describe as botched negotiations with Sharaa.