U.S. diplomats on Syria abruptly let go amid pro-Damascus policy push, sources say

By Jonathan Spicer, Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Humeyra Pamuk

ISTANBUL (Reuters) -Some of the most senior U.S. diplomats focused on Syria have been abruptly let go from their posts in recent days, according to five people familiar with the matter, a shake-up that comes as Washington seeks to integrate its Syrian Kurdish allies with the central administration in Damascus.

The diplomats at the Syria Regional Platform (SRP) - the de facto U.S. mission to the country based remotely in Istanbul - all reported to Tom Barrack, the U.S. special envoy for Syria and a longtime adviser and friend of President Donald Trump.

Appointed in May, Barrack has spearheaded a regional policy shift that backs a unified Syrian state under President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the Islamist leader who swept to power in a lightning advance late last year.

One of the people who spoke to Reuters, a U.S. diplomatic source, said "a handful" of staff at the SRP were told their tours were ending as part of a reorganisation of the team.

The person said the departures would not affect U.S. policy in Syria, and the decision to remove them was not based on policy differences between the staff and Barrack or the White House.

The sources, who also included two Western diplomats and two U.S.-based sources, said the moves were sudden, involuntary and came toward the end of last week. Reuters was not able to ascertain the official reason given for the moves.

A State Department official said it did not comment on "personnel decisions or administrative reorganizations", adding: "Core staff working on issues pertaining to Syria continue to operate from multiple locations."

Barrack, the envoy, has urged the Kurdish-led, U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to move more quickly to ratify a March deal with Sharaa to bring areas they run under state authority, and to integrate the SDF into national security forces.

SDF RELUCTANT TO SUBMIT TO GREATER CONTROL

One Western diplomat said the ousting of the U.S. diplomats was in part driven by "a divergence" in views between staffers and Barrack on the issue of the SDF and Sharaa, without elaborating.

The State Department did not comment on this issue. Barrack, who is also the U.S. ambassador to NATO member Turkey, could not be reached directly for comment.

Some SDF leaders - having fought with the U.S. against Islamic State during former President Bashar al-Assad's rule - have resisted the U.S. pressure to integrate into national security forces, especially given several flare-ups of violence across Syria this year.

The SDF, still engaged in sporadic skirmishes with Syrian and Turkish-backed forces in the country's northeast, has continued to push for a less centralized government in the post-Assad era — one in which they would retain the autonomy they gained during Syria's civil war.

Barrack was in Damascus on Tuesday overseeing the foreign minister's signing of a plan to address a standoff with the Druze minority in the south. Barrack later said on X the plan would back "equal rights and shared obligations for all".

Since Washington shuttered its embassy in Damascus in 2012, the SRP has served as the de facto mission to Syria. It is headquartered at the U.S. consulate in Istanbul and has offices elsewhere in the region.

(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer in Istanbul, Suleiman Al-Khalidi in Amman and Humeyra Pamuk in Washington; Additional reporting by Maya Gebeily in BeirutEditing by Gareth Jones)