Damascus (AFP) – The leader of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, the Washington-backed group at the forefront of the battle against the Islamic State jihadist group, announced their dissolution on Tuesday under a deal with the government.
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.
The forces’ leader, Mazloum Abdi, declared their dissolution in a televised speech at the presidential palace in Damascus.
“We announce today the end of the mission of the Syrian Democratic Forces and declare, with full responsibility, their dissolution as an independent military force,” he said.
Abdi explained that the announcement followed “the completion of the process of integrating our forces into the brigades of the Syrian army”.
The SDF was formed in 2015 at the instigation of the United States, which was impressed by the Kurdish fighters who had defeated IS in Kobane in the north and was seeking a reliable partner in the ongoing battle against the jihadists.
The group went on to spearhead the battle against IS, which was defeated territorially in Syria four years later.
The US special envoy to Syria and Iraq, Tom Barrack, hailed the group’s disbandment on Tuesday.
“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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Necessary if you’re out to build a stable state instead of being a cool guy doing anarchy I guess.
Maybe not the wisest decision when Israeli ministers are saying “you’re next, Syria” and you might want some decentralized forces.
Well the new Syrian Army is effectively decentralized for now given it was only recently created.
🤣
If the Zionist entity attacks, those mercenaries would be on their side. In fact, they asked, practically screamed, for Zionist help when they were collapsing last year. And that was all done in the open. But unfortunately for them, their mercenary luck was out, since they had no place in the new arrangements and plans for the region (unless they go to fight in Iran of course, which was where everyone thought their Qandil-origin PKK leaders were going, but it’s not clear yet whether that’s going to materialize).