US envoy meets SDF commander, calls for Syria ceasefire to be upheld 

The United States has reiterated support for a ceasefire in Syria’s north, urging the government and Kurdish-led forces to adopt “confidence-building measures” after recent clashes.

US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack made the diplomatic appeal on Thursday after meeting with Mazloum Abdi, commander-in-chief of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and Ilham Ahmed, a leading Syrian Kurdish politician.

“All parties agreed that the essential first step is the full upholding of the current ceasefire, as we collectively identify and implement ‍confidence-building measures on all ⁠sides to foster trust and lasting stability,” he wrote on X.

Barrack also renewed US backing for an agreement signed on January 18 between the Syrian government and the SDF on integrating the Kurdish-led forces into state institutions, as part of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s push to unify Syria.

Disagreement over how such integration would work had led to recent bouts of conflict between the government and the SDF, which had sought continued autonomy for some Kurdish-majority areas.

Over several weeks, Syrian government forces attacked numerous SDF-held areas, taking control of Aleppo, Raqqa and Deir Az Zor.

Territories seized by the government include some of Syria’s biggest oilfields, agricultural land and jails holding ISIL (ISIS) prisoners, 150 of whom have already been transferred to Iraq, which says it plans to initiate legal proceedings against them.

Under a ⁠ceasefire announced on Tuesday, Syria’s government gave the SDF four days to come up with a plan for its remaining enclaves to merge, and said government troops would not enter two remaining SDF-held cities – Hasakah and Qamishli – if a deal was reached. Both the SDF and the government have since accused each other of breaching the truce.

The SDF, once the US’s top ally in Syria to counter ISIL, appears to have lost leverage as US President Donald Trump strengthens ties with the country’s new leader, al-Sharaa. Barrack said on Tuesday that the SDF’s role as the “primary anti-ISIS force on the ground has largely expired” as Damascus steps up.

“The fact of the matter is, for the SDF, they have essentially outlived their usefulness to the US,” said Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith.