DAMASCUS, Syria — The commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces on Tuesday announced the official dissolution of the group, which once controlled a de facto autonomous zone in Syria’s northeast.
The Kurdish-led force lost most of its territory in northeast Syria to a government offensive in January and then signed the deal to merge with the army. The SDF was once the main partner of the United States in Syria as it battled the Islamic State group. The Kurds were initially circumspect about the new post-Assad government and unwilling to give up their de facto autonomy. 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. 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.
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. Shortly after the uprising against the Assad government began in 2011, the Kurds filled the vacuum created by the withdrawal of government forces from wide areas of Syria’s northeast. The SDF at one point controlled about 25% of Syria.
Speaking during a news conference at the presidential palace in Damascus, Mazloum Abdi said the SDF has completed a merger with the Syrian army and would cease to operate as an independent force. The SDF “carried a heavy responsibility during one of the most difficult periods in Syria’s history,” Abdi said. “Today, circumstances have changed, and the country has entered a new phase, one of peace and participation in building a new Syria,” he said, announcing the “end of the SDF’s mission” and “its dissolution as an independent military force.
