US Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted that the commander in chief of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazlum Kobane, be present during his Feb. 13 meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani. The assignation took place on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

Rubio told Shibani that unless the Kurdish military leader was included in the Syrian delegation, the meeting would not take place at all, well-placed sources with direct knowledge of the deliberations preceding the meeting told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, authorized his top diplomat to comply. Kobane, flanked by the Syrian Kurds’ de facto foreign minister, Ilham Ahmed, ended up sitting to Shibani’s right and almost directly across from Rubio. 

The moment was celebrated by Kurds worldwide as a historical milestone in their decades-long campaign for international legitimacy. It took even the most seasoned Kurd watchers by surprise.

Tom Barrack, the Trump administration’s Syria envoy, who is frequently castigated by Kurds for being “pro-Sharaa," shared a photo from the meeting on X. “A picture is worth a thousand words. A new beginning,” he wrote.