US envoy James Jeffrey, who was known for constantly praising Turkey despite its increasing turn to aggressive militarism and threatening US partners, is leaving his post, reports claimed Saturday. Asharq al-Awsat reported that “US Special Representative for Syria James Jeffrey has contacted several European and Arab officials and Syrian opposition figures to inform them that this mission was coming to an end and that the US policy would not change if Joe Biden won the presidency.”

Jeffrey was brought on as US envoy to Syria in August 2018. He was seen as particularly pro-Turkey and sought to distance the US from Kurdish partners in eastern Syria known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, telling the Atlantic Council in December 2018 that the Syrian Kurds’ future would only be under the Syrian government, which was led by Bashar al-Assad at the time. He gave interviews to Turkish and other media which portrayed the US partnership with the SDF as temporary, transactional and tactical.