Syria to help US fight Iran-backed armed groups, envoy says

DAMASCUS

Syria will play an active role in assisting the United States in fighting armed groups including Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Hamas and Hezbollah, U.S. special envoy Tom Barrack said on Thursday.

Islamist interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, himself a former jihadist, became the first Syrian leader to visit the White House since his country's independence in 1946.

Shortly after his visit, the U.S.-led coalition fighting the ISIL announced that Syria had become its 90th member.

On Thursday, Barrack wrote on X that "Damascus will now actively assist us in confronting and dismantling the remnants of ISIS (ISIL), the IRGC, Hamas, Hizballah, and other terrorist networks".

Iran's powerful IRGC and Lebanon's Hezbollah were key backers of president Bashar al-Assad before he was ousted last december by a rebel coalition led by Sharaa.

Hamas does not have an armed presence in Syria.

Barrack also said he held a "pivotal" meeting with U.S. top diplomat Marco Rubio, Türkiye's Hakan Fidan and Syria's Asaad al-Shaibani, during which they discussed steps towards "integrating the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into the new Syrian economic, defense and civic structure".

SDF leader Mazloum Abdi told AFP last month that he had reached a "preliminary agreement" with Damascus on the integration of his troops into Syria's military and security forces.

In a post on X on Tuesday, Abdi said he had discussed with Barrack "our commitment to accelerate the integration of the SDF into the Syrian state".

Sharaa's administration and the SDF had signed an agreement in March to integrate into national civilian and military institutions, but it has faced hurdles since.