ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The US on Monday welcomed the recent meeting between President Masoud Barzani and Mazloum Abdi, commander-in-chief of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

“The United States welcomed the January 16 meeting between Kurdistan Democratic Party President Masoud Barzani and Syrian Democratic Forces Commander General Mazloum Abdi,” the US State Department said in a statement.

It added, "Intra-Kurdish dialogue can play a critical role in bolstering an inclusive political transition in Syria."

President Barzani met Abdi in Erbil on Thursday, discussing the need for Kurdish "unity” in Syria in the wake of Bashar al-Assad's ouster and new developments in the war-torn country.

Thursday’s meeting in Erbil came just three days after Abdul Hamid Darbandi, President Barzani's special representative, visited northern Syria. He met Abdi in Hasakah and leaders of the opposition Kurdish National Council (KN or ENKS) in Qamishli, conveying his message for the unity of Kurds. This was part of President Barzani's intensified efforts to establish unity among Kurdish rival sides amid recent developments in the neighboring country.

The collapse of Assad and Turkey’s ongoing military campaigns along with their allied opposition rebel groups on the Kurdish enclave in Syria has once again brought up the issue of Kurdish disunity, a serious development emboldening Syrian Kurds to merge their enclaves and reach an agreement to engage in talks with the international players and new authorities in Damascus.

President Barzani has repeatedly called on Kurdish parties of Syria to cast aside their differences and unite their fronts. 

Turkey considers the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the backbone of the US-backed, Kurdish-led SDF that controls the Syrian Kurdish region, to be inextricably linked to its domestic foe, the PKK. However, the YPG insists that they merely subscribe to a similar ideology.

The SDF, considered the Kurdish de facto army in Syria and the US’ primary ally in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) in the country, controls the bulk of northeastern and eastern regions of Syria, amounting to a quarter of the country's territory.