In his first visit to the region since last week’s fragile cease-fire in Suwayda, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy for Syria Thomas J. Barrack held an unannounced meeting on Saturday with Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) General-in-Chief Mazlum Abdi. According to the Turkish T24 news site, the two men “reviewed immediate steps to restore calm and stability and discussed practical avenues of integrating the north-east into a united, peaceful, prosperous and inclusive Syria.”
“The time for unity has come,” Barrack told Abdi during the talks, widely believed to have taken place in Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). He also thanked the SDF for its “continued cooperation against ISIS”. He repeated Washington’s standard line that “all armed actors must ultimately come under a single defensive architecture in a future Syrian state.”
Deadlock Over “One Army” Versus Federal Autonomy
Barrack’s shuttle diplomacy follows a stalled 13 July trilateral in Damascus that brought the envoy together with Abdi and Transitional President Ahmed Shara. On that occasion, Washington and Damascus floated the idea of creating a single national army—an idea the SDF rejected, insisting that any integration must occur within a federal system that preserves the AANES’s existing security structures.
That same week, every major Kurdish party in the north-east, from the governing PYD to the opposition Kurdish National Council, issued a rare joint statement demanding that the next Syrian constitution codify a federal region for “Rojava/North-East Syria.”
Barrack’s Public Appeal: “Lay Down Your Weapons”
Ahead of Saturday’s meeting, Barrack took to the social-media platform X to warn that “the ruthless actions of armed groups” were clouding hopes for “a transition from a legacy of pain to a future of hope.” Calling Syria “a country at a crossroads,” he urged all factions to disarm and return to dialogue immediately. The post also cited President Trump’s easing of U.S. sanctions earlier this year as “a principled step that gives Syrians a chance to move past unimaginable suffering.”
Revolution Anniversary Energises Kurdish Base
The visit coincided with the 13th anniversary of the 19 July 2012 “Rojava Revolution,” the uprising that laid the groundwork for today’s AANES. Women’s umbrella organisation Kongra Star marked the day with a statement pledging that, through “unity and alliance, we will be the dynamic force of transformation across Syria.” The group highlighted women’s leadership since the earliest days in Kobanê and warned that any new national charter that sidelines gender equality would “only deepen the crisis.”
Kongra Star also called on society to rally around the women-led YPJ and the broader SDF, insisting that self-defence remains non-negotiable until a democratic, decentralised Syria is guaranteed.
Regional backdrop
The above developments came in a period when the Suwayda cease-fire between Druze militias and Arab tribal fighters remains largely intact, allowing Washington to refocus on the northeast. Damascus continues to demand the dissolution of parallel Kurdish security forces, while the AANES leadership argues that local defence units are essential to long-term stability. Meanwhile, the international aid agencies warn that renewed fighting or a forced rollback of Kurdish self-rule could trigger another displacement wave.
What comes next?
Diplomatic sources say Barack will brief Damascus and intermediaries early next week. For their part, Kurdish negotiators hint that they could accept phased military integration—provided that constitutional guarantees for a democratic federation and equal gender representation are secured first.
Whether Saturday’s “time for unity” message opens the door to real compromise—or merely restates long-standing U.S. talking points—will become clearer when the parties reconvene under U.N. auspices in Geneva next month. For now, the north-east waits, balancing a decade-old revolution against the promise—or peril—of a re-unified Syria.