Barzani meets Syria’s al-Sharaa in Damascus to debate Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) integration and Kurdish rights in post-Assad Syria.
Revealed On 3 Aug 2026
Nechirvan Barzani, president of Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish area, has held talks with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, within the first go to by a Kurdish chief to Syria for the reason that fall of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
On Monday, Barzani led a high-level delegation to Damascus, the place he was acquired on the Folks’s Palace. In response to Syria’s state information company SANA, the 2 sides mentioned bilateral relations between Erbil and Damascus, in addition to a number of key regional problems with mutual concern to strengthen cooperation and coordination throughout numerous fields.
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The go to to Syria’s capital comes after months of diplomatic engagement between the Kurdistan Regional Authorities in Iraq and Syria’s new administration. Barzani and al-Sharaa beforehand met twice on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Discussion board, first on April 11, 2025, and once more on April 17, 2026. In response to an announcement from the Kurdistan Area Presidency, the second assembly coated the event of financial ties and the settlement between the Syrian authorities and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The combination of the SDF into Syrian state establishments is a central focus of the talks. The SDF, a Kurdish-led power that controls a lot of northeastern Syria, has been in negotiations with Damascus over its future standing. The Syrian authorities has sought to combine the power into its navy constructions, whereas Kurdish representatives have pressed for ensures of political and cultural rights.
In response to information experiences from Al Hadath, Barzani and al-Sharaa mentioned mechanisms for entrenching the constitutional rights of Kurds in Syria, notably language rights and administrative autonomy. Implementation of Decree No. 13, which pertains to Kurdish language rights, was additionally on the agenda. Syrian officers have expressed curiosity in benefitting from the Kurdistan Regional Authorities’s expertise in Kurdish-language schooling, curriculum growth and trainer coaching.
Barzani’s itinerary additionally consists of conferences with Kurdish officers in Syria, together with SDF commanders and Kurdish members of the Syrian parliament, based on Kurdish media experiences.
The go to follows a sequence of diplomatic exchanges, together with a visit by Syria’s schooling minister to Erbil and efforts to reopen the Syrian consulate in Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish area. Barzani has beforehand hosted SDF commander Mazloum Abdi and delegations from northeastern Syria in Erbil.
For the Kurdistan Regional Authorities in Erbil, which shares a 1,100km (684-mile) border with Syria and hosts tens of hundreds of Syrian refugees, the engagement carries important safety imperatives. Making certain a secure, inclusive Syria reduces the chance of the resurgence of ISIL (ISIS), limits future refugee flows, and enhances Erbil’s diplomatic leverage with each Baghdad and Ankara.
The talks come at a delicate time, throughout ongoing clashes between Syrian forces and Kurdish fighters within the northeast.
