Tom Barrack

Barack plays a key role as US ambassador to Turkey, Special Envoy to Syria, and one of the key figures in American policy in the Levant, while also keeping constant dialogues with Gulf state actors.

The recent meeting was important because it was the coalition's first reunion since the January 30 deal between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces.

The deals follow Syria's hosting of the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Chevron and a Qatar-based company to pursue offshore oil and gas exploration.

This could be a major game-changer for Syria as it begins to regrow its economy after decades of sanctions and isolation.

The Office of General Yazdanpanah criticised Western inaction regarding the situation for the Kurds in Syria, continuing: “Rojava will fall if we Kurds don’t consider their struggle as ours.”

Syrian state media reported that Damascus and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces reached an immediate ceasefire after days of clashes in Kurdish-held areas of the northeast.

The head of the YPG warned that only the US or its coalition partners can halt Syria’s advance into Kurdish-held territory, as government forces seize key towns and energy sites.

Clashes grew in the first days of January 2026, and now Syrian security forces have taken over most of the Kurdish neighborhoods, causing many Kurds to flee and also leading to abuses against Kurds.

United States Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack warned that the "deeply concerning" clashes may "risk undermining the progress achieved since the fall of the Assad regime."

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