Trump praises Syrian President al-Sharaa after offensive against SDF

US president praises al-Sharaa, who is due in Moscow on Wednesday to meet Russian President Putin, following Syrian Army’s offensive against Kurdish-led SDF.Published On 28 Jan 2026US President Donald Trump has said he is “very happy” with developments in Syria, after a Syrian Army offensive against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), previously backed by Washington.Trump made the comments after a call with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, before the Syrian leader’s departure for Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Syrian army, Kurdish-led SDF accuse each other of ceasefire violationslist 2 of 4Al-Sharaa checkmates the SDF and Washington still winslist 3 of 4Rubio speaks to Iraqi PM al-Sudani amid tensions with Iranlist 4 of 4Syrian army offensive overjoys some, leaves others with ‘existential’ fearend of list“I had a great conversation with the highly respected president of Syria, and all of the things having to do with Syria and that area,” Trump told reporters.“It’s working out very well, so we’re very happy about it,” the US president said.A statement from the Syrian presidency said that al-Sharaa had emphasised to Trump “Syria’s full commitment to its territorial integrity and its national sovereignty and the state’s keenness to preserve its institutions and promote civil peace”.Al-Sharaa also spoke about the importance of unifying international efforts to prevent the return of “terrorist groups”, including ISIL (ISIS), the statement said.Trump later told Fox News that he and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had “solved a tremendous problem in conjunction with Syria”, without providing further details.The SDF said on January 18 that its forces had withdrawn from the northeastern Syrian cities of Raqqa and Deir Az Zor, following the Syrian Army’s offensive. The announcement was met with mixed reactions from the cities’ residents.The White House had long backed the SDF in Syria, but US Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said last week that the role of the Kurdish-led group as the “primary anti-ISIS force on the ground” had “largely expired”, with the Syrian government taking on security responsibilities in the country.