U.S. President Donald Trump and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa held a phone call between 7:46 PM and 8:15 PM UTC on January 19, 2026, discussing Syrian developments, agreeing to continue cooperation against ISIS, preserve Syria's unity and sovereignty, restore stability, and guarantee Kurdish rights within the state, according to X posts by BarracudaVol1 and mintelworld. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) conducted huge mobilization in Hasakah city and distributed weapons to women in nearby Tal Tamr during the 29-minute period, as reported by X users vvanwilgenburg and mustafa_tamer82 citing omar_alharir. SDF and YPG forces placed explosives on the Beirut bridge connecting south to north in Hasakah city center, with detonation possible, per BarracudaVol1 on X. Hardline YPG and YPJ fighters mobilized in Kurdish-majority areas following a failed meeting between al-Sharaa and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi, with an armored convoy from the 72nd Division moving toward Hasakah where positions on the outskirts were secured, according to QalaatAlMudiq on X. U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham criticized Syrian government military moves against SDF as perilous and called for congressional hearings, stating in an X post that SDF were key in defeating ISIS during Trump's first term. PKK-affiliated media spread false claims of ethnic cleansing against Kurds in Al-Hasakah to arm civilians and mobilize support from Turkey and Iraq, according to omar_alharir on X. Turkey's DEM Party decided to hold a parliamentary group meeting tomorrow at the Nusaybin-Kamışlı border in reaction to Syrian army operations against PKK and SDF, as stated by bedbolukbasi on X. These developments follow Syrian army captures of villages on Jabal Abdul Aziz and SDF calls for mobilization in the Hasakah countryside earlier on January 19, per prior reports citing syrianFactCheck and BarracudaVol1.
