SDF Dissolves After Completion of Syrian State Integration

Mazloum Abdi announced Tuesday the dissolution of the Syrian Democratic Forces, formally ending the group’s existence as an independent military force after its integration into Syrian state institutions.

The move also brings the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and its affiliated military, security, administrative and civilian bodies under central state authority, dismantling parallel structures established during the civil war.

“We announce today the end of the mission of the Syrian Democratic Forces and announce with full responsibility its dissolution as an independent military force,” Abdi said in a televised appearance at the People’s Palace in Damascus.

Integration Completed

The announcement followed a phased process agreed with President Ahmed al-Sharaa's government earlier this year.

Abdi said military formations had been absorbed into Syrian army brigades, completing a process that also covered security and administrative institutions.

The SDF had at its peak fielded about 100,000 Kurdish and Arab fighters and controlled extensive territory across northern and northeastern Syria, including areas containing oil infrastructure.

Its core YPG formation had already been integrated. YPG commander Sipan Hamo was appointed deputy defense minister for the eastern territories in March.

Abdi said last week that the integration of military, security and administrative institutions had been completed, shifting the focus toward Kurdish rights within Syria’s constitutional and state framework.

AANES Structures Fold Into State

The process extends beyond the armed formations.

The AANES, which administered the de facto autonomous zone in northeastern Syria, is also being absorbed into state institutions.

Prisons, oil fields, border crossings and other civilian and administrative bodies previously managed through separate structures are being transferred to central authority.

The change ends the institutional separation of the northeast and reconnects the region administratively and economically with the Syrian state.

Damascus Consolidates Control

The dissolution follows major political and military changes since Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December 2024.

The government led by al-Sharaa moved to restore central authority across the country, while the U.S., previously the SDF’s principal supporter in operations against ISIS, shifted toward closer relations with Damascus.

Government forces captured much of the territory previously held by the SDF during an offensive in January 2026.

That pressure produced an agreement later that month for the phased incorporation of Kurdish fighters and governing institutions into the Syrian state.

Al-Sharaa met Abdi and Ilham Ahmed, co-chair of AANES foreign relations, earlier on Tuesday before the dissolution was announced.

The decision closes the SDF’s separate military chapter and ends the autonomous administrative model that emerged in northeastern Syria during nearly 14 years of conflict.