Talks between Syrian govt & Kurdish SDF have collapsed, says official – Firstpost

Talks between Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa and General Mazloum Abdi, the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) leader, have collapsed in Damascus, a Kurdish official told AFP on Tuesday.

“The negotiations held yesterday in Damascus between General Mazloum and Mr Al‑Sharaa have collapsed entirely,” the official said, blaming Sharaa’s government for the failure of talks.

“A firm and decisive stance from the international community is urgently required,” the official further said.

The development has occurred at a time when clashes had been reported between Sharaa’s forces and SDF despite the ceasefire being reached on Sunday.

Under the ceasefire, the SDF withdrew from the provinces of Raqqa and Deir al-Zor, Arab-majority provinces that they had held for many years. The terms mandated Kurdish forces’ integration into state institutions. But fresh clashes were reported on Monday and both blamed each other for starting the fighting.

In the wake of renewed clashes and failure of talks, the fate of the semiautonomous Kurdish administration in northeastern Syria is uncertain.

Turkey, which supports Sharaa, is opposed to Kurds and considers SDF a terrorist organisation. Since launching the offensive that ousted the Assad dynasty in 2024, Sharaa’s forces and armed groups aligned with them have repeatedly attacked the SDF.

Kurds are an ethnic group in West Asia that span across Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. In northeastern Syria, they formed a semiautonomous administration in 2012 during the Syrian civil war that’s currently known as Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). While the United States supported them for years as they took a leading role in fighting the Islamic State (Isis) in the region, the Donald Trump administration has now withdrawn that support.

As a result, Sharaa’s forces are emboldened and the hard-won autonomy of Kurds is at risk of being eroded.