The leaders of two previously rival Kurdish groups met in northern Iraq on Thursday in an apparent step toward reconciliation at a time when the political upheaval in Syria has left Kurds in the region facing an uncertain future.
Hoshyar Zebari, a senior Kurdistan Democratic Party official, described the meeting between KDP leader Masoud Barzani and Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, as a “significant achievement to strengthen Kurdish unity and position” during Syria’s transitional phase.

The meeting in Irbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, came weeks after the fall of the government of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in a lightning offensive by insurgent groups and amid an intensified campaign by Turkey-backed armed groups against Kurdish forces in northeast Syria.

There was no official statement from the KDP or SDF regarding the meeting.