Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa met Nechirvan Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, in Damascus on Monday. The talks focused on implementing an agreement to integrate Syria's Kurdish institutions into the structures of the central government.
The agreement was signed in January, following clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters, but its implementation has been delayed. Barzani helped broker the deal under United States auspices and had met in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, with Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Arab-Kurdish coalition that fought the Islamic State and Bashar al-Assad's regime. Monday's meeting was Barzani's first visit to Damascus since Assad's overthrow in late 2024.
According to the Syrian president's office, the discussion centered on strengthening cooperation, particularly in the economic sector, to preserve the security and stability of a country devastated by years of war.
Barzani's message on Kurdish rights
In a statement issued after the meeting, Barzani said he had expressed his support for a stable and unified Syria in which the rights of all national and religious components would be safeguarded. The two leaders also discussed Syria's role in strengthening peace, security and stability in the region.
An official Syrian source told AFP that Barzani's visit aimed to give momentum to the January 29 agreement and to measures integrating the SDF into the government. A diplomatic source did not rule out a possible meeting between Barzani and Abdi.
Kurdish withdrawal from northern Syria
At the height of Syria's civil war, from 2011 to 2024, Syrian Kurds, backed by the West, controlled large parts of northern and northeastern Syria and led the fight against Islamic State jihadists. After Assad's fall in December 2024 to a coalition of Islamist forces, the new authorities sought to stabilize and reunify the country. A year later, Kurdish forces, under military pressure from Damascus, withdrew from much of that territory, and Qamishli airport, the only one in northeastern Syria, passed to central government control. The Kurds also handed the state their oil fields, the main funding source for their autonomous administration.
Disagreements between the two sides have delayed the integration of Kurdish forces into the Syrian army. Barzani had welcomed the signing of the agreement, saying it would protect Kurdish rights in the future constitution to be drafted by the new parliament.
