Syrian Kurdish-led SDF dissolves after merging into army in Damascus deal
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have announced that they are dissolving as an independent military force after completing their integration into the Syrian army. The declaration was made by commander Mazloum Abdi in a televised speech from the presidential palace in Damascus on Tuesday evening. It marks a major shift in Syria's postwar military landscape and a significant step in the consolidation of power by the new authorities in the capital.
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Abdi said the group had completed the process of integrating its fighters into brigades of the Syrian army. He said the announcement represented the end of the SDF's mission and the start of a new phase for the country. The statement followed a deal with the authorities in Damascus after the SDF lost most of its territory in northeast Syria in a January offensive.
The SDF had been the main partner of the United States in the fight against Islamic State and was formed in 2015 with strong Kurdish participation. At its peak, it controlled large areas of Syria's oil-rich north and northeast and operated as the backbone of a de facto autonomous zone. The force also became one of the most organised armed actors in the country during the war, with an estimated 100,000 fighters at its height, according to one of the reports.
The dissolution is important because it changes the balance between Syria's central government and the Kurdish-led structures that emerged during the conflict. It also comes after the ousting of former president Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 and the rise of interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose government has been building closer ties with Washington. The reports say the United States later removed Syria from its state sponsors of terror list, a move that signalled a broader warming in relations and a shift in the diplomatic environment around Damascus.
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The announcement also carries political and social implications beyond the military sphere. Abdi said the new arrangement should help open a period of peace, stability and reconstruction, and he referred to the need to preserve the right to education in the Kurdish language. He said the authorities had noted that issue and that work would continue on Kurdish-language education during the current year.
That suggests the deal is not only about armed integration, but also about the place of Kurdish rights in the new Syrian order. The SDF was created in 2015 at the instigation of the United States, which wanted a reliable local partner against Islamic State after the battle for Kobane. It later became the main force that helped defeat the group territorially in Syria.
Its dissolution therefore closes a chapter in the war that reshaped Syria's northeast and left the SDF as one of the most influential non-state military actors in the country. The move also appears to strengthen the position of the new government in Damascus, which is seeking to reassert control over armed formations across the country. For Ahmed al-Sharaa, the integration of the SDF into the army is a notable political gain because it reduces the number of independent armed centres of power.
For Kurdish communities in the northeast, the key question now is how much autonomy, representation and cultural protection will remain under the new arrangement. What remains unclear is how the integration will work in practice, including command structures, deployment, and the future of local administration in areas once held by the SDF. It is also not yet clear how the deal will affect security in northeast Syria or whether all elements of the force will accept the new military framework.
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The next developments to watch are implementation on the ground, any further statements from Damascus, and whether the agreement leads to wider political accommodation or new tensions.
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