Syria's government and Kurds still at odds over merging forces : US envoy
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who is also a special envoy to Syria, told The Associated Press after meetings in Damascus, the Syrian capital, that there are still significant differences between the sides. Barrack held talks with Mazloum Abdi, head of the Kurdish-led and U.S. backed Syrian Democratic Forces, and Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa.
The development comes after a move by the Trump administration took effect this week, revoking a terrorism designation of the former insurgent group led by al-Sharaa, which was behind a lightning offensive last December that ousted Syria's longtime autocrat Bashar Assad.
Revoking the designation was part of a broader U.S. engagement with al-Sharaa's new, transitional government.
A deal vague in details
In early March, the former insurgents — now the new authorities in Damascus — signed a landmark deal with the SDF, a Kurdish-led force that had fought alongside U.S. troops against the militant Islamic State group and which controls much of northeastern Syria.
Under that deal, the SDF forces would merge with the new Syrian national army. The agreement, which is supposed be implemented by the end of the year, would also bring all border crossings with Iraq and Turkey, airports and oil fields in the northeast under the central government's control. They are now controlled by the SDF.
Detention centers housing thousands of Islamic State militants, now guarded by the SDF, would also come under government control.
However, the agreement left the details vague, and progress on implementation has been slow. A major sticking point has been whether the SDF would remain as a cohesive unit in the new army — which the Syrian Kurds are pushing for — or whether the force would be dissolved and its members individually absorbed into the new military.
Barrack said that is still 'a big issue' between the two sides.
'Baby steps'
'I don't think there's a breakthrough,' Barrack said after Wednesday's meetings. 'I think these things happen in baby steps, because it's built on trust, commitment and understanding."
He added that "for two parties that have been apart for a while and maybe an adversarial relationship for a while, they have to build that trust step by step.'
Also, Turkish-backed factions affiliated with the new Syrian government have over the years clashed with the SDF, which Turkey considers a terrorist group because of its association with the Kurdish separatist Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which had waged a decades-long insurgency within Turkey before recently announcing it would lay down its weapons.
The United States also considers the PKK a terrorist group but is allied with the SDF.
Barrack said that though 'we're not there' yet, Damascus had 'done a great job" in presenting options for the SDF to consider.
"I hope they will and I hope they'll do it quickly,' he said.
From skepticism to trust
A key turning point for Syria came when U.S. President Donald Trump met with al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia in May and announced that Washington would lift decades of sanctions, imposed over Assad's government.
Trump took steps to do so after their meeting and subsequently, the U.S. moved to remove the terrorist designation from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, al-Sharaa's force that spearheaded the offensive against Assad.
The U.S. played a key role in brokering the deal announced in March between al-Sharaa's government and the SDF and has urged the Syrian Kurdish authorities to integrate with Damascus.
Barrack said Washington has 'complete confidence in the Syrian government and the new Syrian government's military,' while the SDF has been a 'valuable partner' in the fight against IS and that the U.S. 'wants to make sure that they have an opportunity ... to integrate into the new government in a respectful way.'
The U.S. has begun scaling down the number of troops it has stationed in Syria — there are about 1,300 U.S. forces now — but Barrack said Washington is in 'no hurry' to pull out completely.
Prospects of Syria-Israel ties
In the interview with the AP, Barrack also downplayed reports of possible breakthroughs in talks on normalizing ties between Syria and Israel.
'My feeling of what's happening in the neighborhood is that it should happen, and it'll happen like unwrapping an onion, slowly ... as the region builds trust with each other,' he said without elaborating.
Since Assad's fall, Israel has seized a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in Syria bordering the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights and has launched hundreds of airstrikes on military sites in Syria. Israeli soldiers have also raided Syrian towns outside of the border zone and detained people who they said were militants, sometimes clashing with locals.
Israeli officials have claimed they are taking the measures to guard their border against another cross-border attack like the one launched by the Palestinian Hamas group on Oct. 7, 2023.
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Al-Ahram Weekly
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A second reason is the fact that West Africa is intertwined with the Sahel and Sahara, an area facing security challenges, given that both the Islamic State (IS) group and Al-Qaeda are actively present there. 'The stability of this area is directly linked to Egypt's national security,' Kurani said. Thirdly, the choice of countries included Nigeria, one of the most important economic and political powers in West Africa, Senegal, which has deep cultural and economic ties with the other West African countries, and the three Sahel states of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, which are facing growing challenges in the fight against terrorism. Chad, along with Egypt, is working on establishing a road network that will link the two countries together with Libya. The two countries are cooperating on the economic and security levels to combat terrorism in the Sahel and Sahara. Egypt and Chad host the largest number of Sudanese refugees from the conflict in Sudan. Abdelatty delivered a written message from President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi to the heads of state he visited, reaffirming Egypt's close relations with each and with the continent as a whole. On the economic level, 30 business leaders and representatives of Egyptian companies accompanied Abdelatty on his tour. Kurani noted that this was new in Egypt's diplomacy with the African countries. He explained that while historical and cultural relations between Egypt and the African states are rich, this has not always been reflected in economic cooperation. 'The African states can benefit from cooperation with Egypt in infrastructure, energy, medicine, and education. This is win-win cooperation as the Egyptian economy would also benefit,' Kurani said. The African states, he added, have taken positive steps to attract foreign investors. The economic delegation that accompanied Abdelatty's tour had explored opportunities for Egyptian investors to enter the markets of these states, he said. He said that one of the factors that will make Egyptian investment welcome in these countries is the fact that Egypt does not have a history of occupation of any African state. 'The activation of economic diplomacy goes hand in hand with political diplomacy, which will benefit Egypt as well as the African states,' Kurani said. On the societal level, Kurani explained, the six countries included in the tour can be described as Western Islamic states or part of the Western Islamic belt of Africa. Egypt's cultural relations with these countries are strong and boosting these and enhancing Egypt's soft power there is important, he said. The community of Egyptian expats, businesses, and Al-Azhar scholars can play an influential role in enhancing ties. 'When the Arab Contractors Company, for instance, initiates a project in an African state, it usually establishes a health centre, a mosque, or an education centre as well. After completing the project, they leave these establishments as a gift to the state,' he said. Egypt's investment in these countries amounts to $2 billion, 'but our soft power also guarantees an effective Egyptian presence in these countries,' Kurani noted. The Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development (EAPD) is very active in most of these countries. It supports Africa's developmental aspirations through capacity-building assistance, the transfer of knowledge, skills, and expertise, and the promotion of the creative industries. Meanwhile, Kurani said that Egypt will no longer be deceived by statements on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) being built on the Upper Nile by Ethiopia. 'Today, the GERD is complete. The main issue now is not the dam itself, but the technicalities of its future operation,' he said. If Ethiopia wants a genuine solution to differences on the dam, it must have the political will to enter negotiations. There should also be legally binding regulations for all the involved parties. US President Donald Trump's statements last week aimed to affect Egypt's position on other important issues, namely Gaza and the displacement of the Palestinians, a move which Egypt has repeatedly and categorically rejected. His statements aimed at either acknowledging the righteousness of Egypt's stand on the GERD, Kurani said, or were an attempt to convince the world that he deserves a Nobel Prize. He added that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had been provocative when he invited both Egypt and Sudan to the inauguration of the GERD in September. 'The inauguration is part of a political propaganda campaign by the Prosperity Party, Ahmed's ruling party, that uses the dam as a political project to distract attention from internal and border problems.' However, Kurani expressed optimism that the restart of the negotiations may bear fruit, noting that the present negotiating environment is different from that of 2019-2020. The internal problems Ethiopia faces today, together with recent developments in Sudan, may pave the way for better outcomes, he said. 'I am not saying that we will easily get concessions from Ethiopia, but the current environment will help maintain Egypt's water security. The positive point is that Ethiopia or any other African state will think twice before causing any harm to Egypt's water security,' he said. Regarding Egypt's role in promoting the Agenda 2063 aimed at achieving an integrated, prosperous, and peaceful Africa driven by its citizens, Kurani noted that Egypt has, since 2014, worked to boost its diplomacy across Africa. Studies show that 30 per cent of President Al-Sisi's external tours have been to African states. During Al-Sisi's address to the African Union's (AU) Seventh Mid-Year Coordination Meeting held in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, earlier this month, he called on all African countries to work collectively to overcome challenges, stating that 'the Africa we want is not a dream but a near reality.' 'Such a slogan is very important for political, cultural, and strategic détente among the African states,' Kurani said. Agenda 2063 has various targets, mainly the integration and development of the continent. With that in mind, Egypt is working on multiple areas, including improving infrastructure across the African states and establishing a free-trade zone. It is advancing these goals through two important centres: the Cairo International Centre for Conflict Resolution, Peacekeeping, and Peacebuilding and the African Union Sahel and Sahara Counter-Terrorism Centre. These centres, together with the EAPD, play key roles in supporting development according to the Agenda 2063 framework. * A version of this article appears in print in the 6 August, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
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