The U.S.-backed terrorist group YPG lost control in Syria after a lightning offensive by the Syrian army. The rapid takeover of YPG-occupied areas took shape in a string of meetings in Damascus, Paris and Iraq earlier this month, nine sources briefed on the closed-door summits told Reuters. The accounts, not previously reported and shared on the condition of anonymity, showed that the U.S. did not stand in the way of an operation that has radically altered Syria's ​balance of power, at the expense of a one-time ally.

The meetings paved the way for ‍Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to score two major wins: advance his vow to unite all Syrian territory under one leadership and become the favored Syrian partner for the U.S. administration under President Donald Trump, the sources said.

His offensive effectively wiped out the self-styled autonomous zone that the YPG had hoped to maintain in Syria's northeast and tested the boundaries of ‌Washington's support for al-Sharaa. But the Syrian president came out on top, with U.S. envoy Tom Barrack saying ‍Washington could now partner with the Syrian state and had no interest in maintaining a separate role for YPG.

"It seems Sharaa is a master strategist," said a U.S. source briefed on Washington's position on Syria.

The U.S. had been a backer of YPG since 2015, when the force was conceived to expel Daesh from Syria's northeast. The YPG later used that territory to establish an autonomous enclave, with separate civilian and military institutions.

But in late 2024, al-Sharaa's forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar Assad and pledged to bring all of Syria under the new government's control, including YPG-held areas. After months of talks in 2025, a year-end deadline for the YPG to integrate with Damascus passed with little progress. That's when momentum for an offensive began to build.

On Jan. 4, a Damascus meeting between Syrian officials and the YPG on integration was abruptly shut down by a Syrian minister, according to three officials. The following day, a Syrian delegation traveled to Paris for U.S.-brokered talks with Israel on a security pact. Syrian officials have accused Israel of backing the YPG and in Paris, they urged Israeli officials to stop encouraging the group to delay integrating, two Syrian sources briefed on the meeting said.

While there, Syrian officials suggested a limited operation to recapture some YPG-held territory and received no objections, another Syrian source briefed on the ⁠matter said.

Syria's Information and Foreign Ministries did not immediately respond to Reuters questions about the Paris meeting. The U.S. State Department referred Reuters to a statement by Barrack issued on Tuesday that urged the YPG to integrate and said the U.S. had no interest in a long-term military presence in Syria.

"Having been present for the entirety of the trilateral meeting in Paris myself, Israel never condoned an attack by the Syrian army on the Syrian Kurds. Any claim that we did so is false," said Yechiel Leiter, Israeli ambassador to the U.S.

The Syrian government received a separate message from Türkiye that Washington would approve an operation against the YPG if civilians were protected, a Syrian official said.

Two weeks later, the offensive was underway, and Washington began signaling to the YPG that it was retracting its longstanding support, a U.S. diplomat, one of the Syrian sources, and another ‌Syrian interlocutor briefed on the issue said.

On Jan. 17, Barrack met with YPG leader Ferhat Abdi Şahin in northern Iraq and told him that U.S. interests lie with al-Sharaa, not the YPG, the three sources said. A YPG official denied the account. A U.S. military official said the U.S. had given the YPG assurances of protection if al-Sharaa's offensive harmed Kurdish civilians or destabilized detention centers holding Daesh detainees. As Syrian troops pushed ​past the zone they originally proposed to capture, the U.S. military urged them to halt their advances, and coalition aircraft fired warning flares over some flashpoint areas. But those actions fell far short ‍of the YPG's expectations.

Al-Sharaa nearly overplayed his hand in the offensive's final stage, ‍the U.S. source briefed on ​Washington's position and ‍two other U.S. sources familiar with its policy said.

His forces had swiftly recaptured Arab-majority provinces from the YPG and kept advancing. By Jan. ⁠19, they were encircling the final YPG-held cities in Syria's northeast, despite a cease-fire announced the previous day.

But the U.S. ‍administration was angry that Syrian troops had ignored the truce and feared mass violence against civilians, the three U.S. sources said. Two of the sources said U.S. lawmakers were considering reimposing sanctions on Syria if fighting continued.

A White House official told Reuters the U.S. was monitoring developments in Syria "with grave concern" and urged all parties to "prioritize the protection of civilians across all minority groups."

With his forces approaching the YPG's last strongholds, al-Sharaa suddenly announced a new cease-fire on Tuesday. He said his troops would not proceed if the YPG proposed an integration plan by the end of the week. The three U.S. sources said al-Sharaa's abrupt announcement had satisfied Washington and that ⁠he was now "in the clear." Minutes later, Barrack ‌issued his statement.

The original purpose of the YPG as a combat force against (Daesh) had "largely expired," he said, and the greatest opportunity for them was under al-Sharaa's new government.