Kurdish-led force that fought ISIS joining Syrian army following dispute with government

A remarkable reversal in northeast Syria. The Kurdishled force that defeated ISIS, ruled a vast autonomous enclave, and later fought against the new authorities in Damascus is now joining them. The deal comes after the SDF was pushed out of much of its territory and following allegations of serious abuses against Kurdish civilians during the fighting. Our Alex Schllo has more. One of the most powerful independent armed forces in Syria is officially no more. After more than a decade controlling much of the country's northeast, the Kurdish led Syrian Democratic Forces or SDF has dissolved and folded into Syria's central government. SDF commander Maslum Abdi made the announcement alongside President Ahmed Ashara in Damascus. Following the agreement with President Shara and the completion of the process of integrating our forces into the brigades of the Syrian army, we hereby announce today the end of the mission of the Syrian Democratic Forces and we responsibly declare their dissolution as an independent military force. Help me. >> It is a dramatic end to a force that once controlled roughly a quarter of Syria and became Washington's most important local partner in the war against ISIS. The SDF helped drive ISIS from Kobani, Raqqa, and eventually most of its remaining territory in Syria. Now, its fighters are being absorbed into Syrian state structures. That includes the Kurdish woman's YPJ which has agreed to join the interior ministry as a counterterrorism force. Among its famous commanders is Rajda Felat, one of the most prominent military figures to emerge from Rojava. She fought during the siege of Kobani and later became one of the commanders of the campaign that captured Raqqa from ISIS. The transition therefore brings some of the very commanders who once built an autonomous Kurdish military structure into the institutions of the Syrian state. Abdi says the battlefield chapter is now over. Since the establishment of the Syrian Democratic Forces, its fighters have carried a heavy responsibility during one of the most difficult periods in Syria's history. They liberated many Syrian cities and towns, first from bath rule and then from the terror of ISIS. Today, circumstances have changed and the country has entered a new phase, one of peace and participation in building a new Syria. >> Washington is strongly backing the deal. US Envoy Tom Bareric called the development absolutely historic, saying it showed what a genuine integration could look like without winners and losers. His message was simple. One army, one government, one state. For Syria's Kurds, the agreement also comes with political and cultural concessions, including recognition of Kurdish language education and roles for senior Kurdish leaders inside the new government. >> The right to education in the Kurdish language is one of the most important rights our Kurdish people have sought for decades. The president has announced on several occasions the safeguarding of this right and his excellency embodies an open stance regarding the right to education in one's mother tongue. >> After years in which northeastern Syria functioned almost like a state within a state. Damascus is now moving closer to bringing the country back under a single political and military authority. to discuss more. I am joined now by Caroline Rose, senior director at the Sufon Center. Caroline, great to have you with us on i24 News. Thank you. >> Thank you so much for having me. >> Quite the reversal that we see here. So, how did we get here? What guarantees have the Kurds actually received before surrendering arguably their biggest source of leverage? >> Certainly. Well, I think that, you know, this is not a process that happened overnight. Um we had seen immediately after the fall of Assad in Syria. Um just months later in in the early spring uh the new central administration and Kurdish leaders as part of the SDF as well as the autonomous region of northeast Syria, their government met to really jumpstart the process of negotiations which took a very long time. We saw negotiations break uh periodically throughout 2025 and well into 2026 where in the early start of the year in January we saw direct clashes between the SDF and the new Syrian government. um that represented really a nightmare scenario for post-war Syria and which is why I think it really accelerated the decision that we saw today which is not only the absorption of SDF forces and the kind of security apparatus that has surrounded the northeast but additionally the official dissolution of the Syrian democratic forces in Syria. Well, the SDF, they spent a decade fighting ISIS and Syria's new army. It does include some former jihadist factions. Caroline, could Kurdish fighters now find themselves serving beside men with links to the very extremist networks that they once fought? >> Certainly, I I I think that what we're about to see, there will be some obstacles ahead as we start to see different brigades, different units um become shuffled. And we have seen uh for example the guarantee that certain units uh will be absorbed into the Syrian army and likely will stay much the same in the sense of their composition will not necessarily change. Their location um what they're representing and as well as also their very high um and uh deep focus on counterterrorism initiatives will still stay in place. But at the same time, they will be training alongside Syrian army forces. Um, many that have different battlefield experiences, some from uh Syria's northwest Idlib province that might have been part of the former Hayat Terrar Al-Sam. Uh I also do think though that there are some shared experiences and some some shared lessons that I think will be very important for these different units to uh exchange as they try and increase their capacity and that is really their experience with counterterrorism operations against the Islamic State and other terrorist networks across Syria. I think that will be very key and maybe a shared experience that will strengthen capacity in the long run. >> Who now controls the ISIS prisons in the camps? >> Well, some have been emptied. Uh for example, we saw the complete emptying of one site such as Alhole. We have also seen partial emptying and repatriation efforts at the Al Roge camp. There has been one camp that has uh welcomed an influx of new residents in Alakarin. And then there are some prisons that still hold um reported ISIS affiliates and ISIS fighters. Uh some of the most dangerous fighters have actually been transferred into neighboring Iraq um where they're held in federal custody in in several prison systems uh particularly in Baghdad. Uh so I think that what we're going to see is also the transfer of responsibility to the Syrian federal government from the SDF and Assaiish forces. Um this of course will come with some responsibilities. Um and it'll be very important that there is this smooth transfer of management. uh as we saw just months earlier that there were several breakout attempts as well as escapes uh by women, children, and even attempted breakouts from fighters inside of these cartrol systems. >> What does this mean for Turkey? Enkra views the SDF's Kurdish leadership as an extension of the PKK. So, is Turkish leadership satisfied with this integration? >> I think they will be. I I think that, you know, this has always served as an obstacle for um a perceived obstacle for Turkey and we saw repeated Turkish incursions into northern Syria as a result to counter SDF units and uh what they saw as an extension of the PKK. I think that ultimately um we're still seeing Turkish expansion, Turkish influence um in Syria's new defense sector and security sector. But I al I don't think expect that Turkey is going to take on an aggressive stance when it comes to the integration of SDF units in into the federal government. >> Could this Kurdish integration become a model then going forward for other minorities like the Drews and the Alawites into the Syrian state or are are they just too different when it comes to what's happening in Damascus? Well, I think in in many ways um you know the integration model and the process that the new administration has undertaken in Syria, we've already seen the integration of many Alawites um other religious minorities and um ethnoist and ethninguistic communities. uh we've seen the dissolution of smaller militia networks as well as the dissolution of um uh designated terrorist organizations as a result of this consolidation. So I think in many ways actually uh you know this SDF uh model has been in some cases uh built upon uh prior success in that integration process. But I do think that this will serve as uh an example and a model for the next uh contested territory that the new Syrian government is going to look towards. And that's in southern Syria. That's Sueda with uh Drew's militias that have not necessarily been absorbed into the new administration and still are advocating for a semiautonomous um uh conglomerate in in southern Syria.