Jan 16 - Syrian troops are poised to attack towns in the north and east held by Kurdish fighters, sources familiar with the matter said, to pressure autonomy-minded Kurds into making concessions in deadlocked talks with the Damascus government. 

The threat of renewed military action highlights the deepening fault lines between the government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who has vowed to reunify the fractured country under one leadership after 14 years of civil war, and regional Kurdish authorities wary of his Islamist-led administration.