Syrian Kurd commander Kobane kicks off European tour amid scrutiny from Damascus
Commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces Mazlum Kobane is on a European tour and will likely meet French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in Paris.
Mazlum Kobane, the commander-in-chief of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, arrived in Italy Wednesday on the first leg of a European tour that will take him to the Netherlands and France, sources familiar with his schedule told Al-Monitor.
Kobane is hoping to meet with France’s President Emmanuel Macron in Paris this week, they said. However, Trump administration officials are opposed to the meeting taking place ahead of an official trip by Macron to Damascus that is expected next month, the sources said. Neither side has officially announced the trip.
The concern is that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa would consider a Macron-Kobane meeting as evidence that France holds the Syrian Kurdish commander as equal to himself and “this would infuriate him,” one of the sources said. The encounter is therefore unlikely to take place.
The Syrian leader is already on edge amid widespread protests in Syria over rising prices and the lack of action against Assad regime figures. US President Donald Trump’s public calls for Sharaa to help in the fight against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shiite militia in Lebanon, has not helped. Sharaa has made it clear that he has no intention of taking them on.
