Kurdish-led SDF says it has dissolved and completed a merger with the Syrian army

The SDF at one point controlled about 25% of Syria.

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But after the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December 2024, Washington formed close ties with the new government in Damascus led by interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the former leader of an Islamist insurgent group.

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Public celebrations of the Nowruz holiday — an ancient Persian springtime new year festival that is also celebrated by Kurds in Syria, Turkey and Iraq as well as Iran — were banned.

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Some of the insurgent groups that took part in the offensive that ousted Assad were Turkish-backed forces that had clashed with the SDF in the past.

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It also restored the citizenship of tens of thousands of Kurds in northeastern Hassakeh province after they were stripped of it during the 1962 census.

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The Kurds were initially circumspect about the new post-Assad government and unwilling to give up their de facto autonomy.

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It made Kurdish an official language along with Arabic, and adopted Nowruz as a national holiday.

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Kurds questioned whether the new Sunni Arab-led authorities would give them true representation in the new government, while al-Sharaa tried to woo them.

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A peace process is now underway.

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Most of the country is now under the control of the central government in Damascus.

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Questions remain, including the fate of the SDF's all-female fighting units — a sensitive point in the integration talks as many of the Damascus leaders come from a conservative background and are opposed to women in combat.

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Kurds questioned whether the new Sunni Arab-led authorities would give them true representation in the new government, while al-Sharaa tried to woo them.

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The exception is southern Syria's Sweida province, which is now controlled by Druze factions that are hostile to Damascus after clashes last year in which government-affiliated fighters launched sectarian revenge attacks on Druze civilians.

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But the success of the integration agreement with the SDF is a major boost to al-Sharaa's government, which has struggled to unify the country as it begins to recover from a nearly 14-year civil war.

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The Druze factions have received support from Israel, which is also occupying a strip of land in southern Syria near the border with the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

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The exception is southern Syria's Sweida province, which is now controlled by Druze factions that are hostile to Damascus after clashes last year in which government-affiliated fighters launched sectarian revenge attacks on Druze civilians.

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Washington's envoy to Syria hailed US President Donald Trump's role in the SDF's merger with the Syrian state.

Tom Barrack said Trump's "far-sighted leadership" had opened the path for the SDF's orderly integration.

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The dissolution of the SDF came a day after the US removed Syria from its "state sponsors of terrorism" list, a decades-old designation that came with severe economic restrictions.

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After being Syria's most highly trained and organised paramilitary force for years, the SDF was promptly dropped by Washington in favour of the new US-friendly authorities in Damascus after the ousting of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in late 2024.

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The US special envoy to Syria and Iraq, Tom Barrack, hailed the group's disbandment on Tuesday.

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The SDF was formed in 2015 at the instigation of the United States, which was impressed by the Kurdish fighters who had defeated Daesh in Kobane in the north and was seeking a reliable partner in the ongoing battle against the jihadists.

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The group went on to spearhead the battle against Daesh, which was defeated territorially in Syria four years later.

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The SDF amassed around 100,000 fighters at its peak, both Kurds and Arabs, and controlled swathes of Syria's oil-rich north and northeast.

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The SDF amassed around 100,000 fighters at its peak, both Kurds and Arabs, and controlled swathes of Syria's oil-rich north and northeast.

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"This is what real integration looks like: not winners and losers, but former counterparts with differing points of view crafting a diplomatic solution to strengthen the sovereign nation of Syria. One army, one government, one state," said Barrack, who is also Washington's ambassador to Turkey.

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During the violence, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa signed a decree enshrining the Kurds' national rights and recognising Kurdish as a national language, an unprecedented step since Syria's independence in 1946.

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The January agreement, under which Kurdish fighters would be integrated into state structures, stipulates that the SDF commit to expelling all non-Syrian PKK leaders and members from the country.

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The Kurdish force faced repeated Turkish invasions between 2016 and 2019, with Ankara saying it wanted to push the fighters away from its border.

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The announcement represents a major step toward ending the separate military and administrative structures that Kurdish-led authorities have maintained in parts of north-eastern Syria since the fall of long-time dictator Bashar al-Assad in late 2024.

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The step came following weeks of clashes between government forces and SDF fighters in north-eastern Syria.

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Following the ouster of al-Assad in December 2024, Damascus and the Kurdish-led authorities began negotiations over the future of the SDF and the administration of north-eastern Syria.

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Under Assad, Kurds were marginalized and faced restrictions on cultural and linguistic expression, while a 1962 census in the north-eastern Hasakah province left tens of thousands without Syrian citizenship.

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Kurdish-language education was not formally recognized in state schools, a longstanding Kurdish demand.

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The integration was centered on brigades based in Hasakah, Qamishli, Derik, and Kobani (Ayn al Arab), each commanded by former SDF officers.

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Damascus also absorbed the SDF-affiliated Internal Security Forces, commonly known as the Asayish, into the Syrian Ministry of Interior.

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Three of the brigades were initially assigned to the 60th Division of the Syrian army, and one to the 72nd Division, but subsequent army restructuring brought the formations under the newly established 2nd Corps.

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Former SDF commander Jiya Kobani serves as the corps' deputy commander, and former SDF commander Sipan Hamo serves as deputy minister of defense.

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Three of the brigades were initially assigned to the 60th Division of the Syrian army, and one to the 72nd Division, but subsequent army restructuring brought the formations under the newly established 2nd Corps.

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Former SDF commander Jiya Kobani serves as the corps' deputy commander, and former SDF commander Sipan Hamo serves as deputy minister of defense.

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Damascus has rejected the YPJ's demand to join the Defense Ministry as an intact military formation, arguing that the Syrian army does not include female combat units.

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The process opened with the submission of a list of approximately 9,000 Asayish personnel for potential incorporation into the ministry.

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YPJ leaders, however, have resisted individual integration and insist that their fighters retain a distinct organizational identity and command structure.

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Damascus subjected those personnel to a vetting process, and no definitive figure has been released for how many were ultimately integrated.

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The two sides are now considering a compromise under which approximately 2,000 YPJ personnel would be integrated into civilian institutions.

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Additionally, senior Asayish commander Mahmoud Khalil Ali was appointed deputy commander of Internal Security in Hasakah Province.

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In May, Damascus proposed dispersing YPJ personnel among civilian institutions, including Tourism Police and immigration and passport services, which YPJ commanders rejected.

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The governing structures established in northeastern Syria have also been gradually absorbed into Syrian state institutions.

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Border crossings previously administered by the SDF were incorporated into Damascus's national customs system, while Syria's General Authority of Civil Aviation assumed administrative and operational control of Qamishli International Airport.

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Around 20,000 employees of the northeast's education administration have been integrated into the Syrian Ministry of Education and placed on government payrolls.

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Approximately 1,400 health-sector employees have been incorporated into the Ministry of Health, while another 700 employees from the northeast's electricity institutions have been integrated into the corresponding state structures.

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Approximately 1,400 health-sector employees have been incorporated into the Ministry of Health, while another 700 employees from the northeast's electricity institutions have been integrated into the corresponding state structures.

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The two sides initially agreed in early 2025 to integrate the SDF and the Kurdish-led administration's civilian institutions into the Syrian state.

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On Jan. 18, Damascus and the SDF reached a ceasefire and integration agreement providing for an immediate halt to fighting, the withdrawal of SDF formations to areas east of the Euphrates River and the transfer of administrative and military authority in Raqqa and Deir al-Zour provinces to the central government.

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Implementation, however, became bogged down amid disagreements over the structure of the integration, military command arrangements and the degree of autonomy Kurdish authorities would retain.

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Tensions subsequently escalated, including clashes in Kurdish-held neighborhoods of Aleppo, before developing into a broader military confrontation in January this year.

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"Today, we announce the end of the mission of the Syrian Democratic Forces, and we responsibly announce its dissolution as a military force," Abdi said at a press conference at the People's Palace in Damascus, according to Syria's state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV.

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The arrangements included the deployment of Interior Ministry security forces in Hasakah and Qamishli and the incorporation of SDF fighters into formations operating within the Syrian military structure.

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Yet disagreements persisted over the SDF's ultimate status, particularly whether it could retain a distinct command structure within the Syrian military.

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Damascus assumed control over key state institutions and facilities in the northeast, including Qamishli airport and major oil fields, while government security forces entered Hasakah and Qamishli.

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As recently as early August, dissolution remained a key issue under negotiation between Abdi and al-Sharaa.

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Washington also revoked the designation of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al-Qaida-linked rebel group that played a dominant role in the formation of Syria's new government, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization.

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Washington also revoked the designation of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al-Qaida-linked rebel group that played a dominant role in the formation of Syria's new government, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization.

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Tuesday's announcement also came one day after Washington formally removed Syria from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, ending a designation that had lasted since 1979.

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