SHADADI, Syria: A senior US diplomat visited Kurdish-held territory in Syria on Saturday as the minority negotiates with Damascus over the future of its semi-autonomous region.
Ambassador William Roebuck was in the town of Shadidi in the northwestern province of Hasakah after visiting the towns of Kobani and Minbej in recent days.
He is expected to continue to Deir Ezzor, an eastern province where the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters, is fighting the Daesh group in the militants’ last redoubt.
“We are prepared to stay here, as the president (Donald Trump) has made clear, to ensure the enduring defeat of Daesh,” Roebuck said, using an alternative for Daesh.
“We remain focused on ensuring the withdrawal of Iranian forces and their proxies as well.”
Washington has repeatedly criticized Tehran and its ally, the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, for their roles in the Syrian conflict.
Support from Russia, Iran and Hezbollah has allowed President Bashar Assad’s government to regain much of the territory lost to rebels and jihadists in the early years of the country’s seven-year war.
Iranian forces and Tehran-backed Shiite militias have also been key to Assad’s recapture of large swathes of Deir Ezzor province, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
But other areas of the oil-rich province are controlled by the SDF, which spearheaded the US-backed fight against Daesh in Syria.
Syria’s war has left more than 350,000 people dead and displaced millions since it broke out with the brutal repression of an initially peaceful uprising in 2011.
With the regime focused on crushing the rebellion, Kurdish forces carved out a de facto autonomous region in the country’s north and northeast.
Roebuck’s visit comes as the Kurds and the regime engage in difficult talks over the fate of territory under SDF control.
Assad’s government now controls nearly two-thirds of Syria and is determined to reassert its authority over Kurdish-held territory, which forms the lion’s share of the rest.
But Kurdish leaders and their supporters are desperate to salvage what they can of their painstakingly built institutions.
Senior US diplomat visits Kurdish-held territory in Syria
Senior US diplomat visits Kurdish-held territory in Syria
- Ambassador William Roebuck was in the town of Shadidi after visiting the towns of Kobani and Minbej in recent days
- He is expected to continue to Deir Ezzor
Russian forces begin pulling out of bases in northeast Syria
- Despite having been on opposite sides of the battle lines during the civil war, the new rulers in Damascus have taken a pragmatic approach to relations with Moscow
QAMISHLI, Syria: Russian forces have begun pulling out of positions in northeast Syria in an area still controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces after the group lost most of its territory in an offensive by government forces.
Associated Press journalists visited one base next to the Qamishli airport Tuesday and found it guarded by SDF fighters who said the Russians had begun moving their equipment out in recent days.
Inside what had been living quarters for the soldiers was largely empty, with scattered items left behind, including workout equipment, protein powder and some clothing.
Ahmed Ali, an SDF fighter deployed at the facility, said the Russian forces began evacuating their positions around the airport five or six days ago, withdrawing their equipment via a cargo plane.
“We don’t know if its destination was Russia or the Hmeimim air base,” he said, referring to the main Russian base on Syria’s coast. “They still have a presence in Qamishli and have been evacuating bit by bit.”
A UN humanitarian convoy from Damascus reached Qamishli on Tuesday, UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said.
“It delivered food, warm clothes and blankets, among other supplies,” he told UN reporters. “More convoys are planned in the coming days.”
Dujarric said the UN is also continuing to distribute food, bread and cash elsewhere including displacement sites.
There has been no official statement from Russia about the withdrawal of its forces from Qamishli.
Russia has built relations with the new central Syrian government in Damascus since former President Bashar Assad was ousted in December 2024 in a rebel offensive led by now-interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa — despite the fact that Moscow was a close ally of Assad.
Moscow’s scorched-earth intervention in support of Assad a decade ago turned the tide of Syria’s civil war at the time, keeping Assad in his seat. Russia didn’t try to counter the rebel offensive in late 2024 but gave asylum to Assad after he fled the country.
Despite having been on opposite sides of the battle lines during the civil war, the new rulers in Damascus have taken a pragmatic approach to relations with Moscow. Russia has retained a presence at its air and naval bases on the Syrian coast.
Al-Sharaa is expected to visit Moscow on Wednesday and meet with Putin.
Fighting broke out early this month between the SDF and government forces after negotiations over a deal to merge their forces together broke down. A ceasefire is now in place and has been largely holding.
After the expiration of a four-day truce Saturday, the two sides announced the ceasefire had been extended by another 15 days.
Syria’s defense ministry said in a statement that the extension was in support of an operation by US forces to transfer accused Daesh militants who had been held in prisons in northeastern Syria to detention centers in Iraq.
