During the fight against ISIS, the SDF proved that the Kurds were useful allies to the United States. Now they may prove equally useful to the new Syrian government.

On August 25, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander Mazloum Abdi announced the dissolution of the Kurdish-led alliance of militias. Abdi commanded the SDF throughout the last decade during its battle with ISIS in central and eastern Syria alongside the United States. He then navigated competing Turkish, Iranian, Russian, and US influences in Syria. With the SDF’s dissolution, the new Syrian government will have an opportunity to benefit and learn from the US-backed force’s accomplishments. 

The US-led Operation Inherent Resolve backed the SDF’s creation as a counter-force to defeat ISIS in 2014. ISIS had at that point swept across a wide swath of Syria and Iraq, leaving massacres and destruction in its wake. It targeted minority groups, such as the Yazidis in Iraq, for extermination and enslavement. Defeating ISIS was a complex endeavor since it required the cooperation of various and fractious groups on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian border.

The SDF was the main US partner force in Syria. It’s worth recalling that back in 2015, when the SDF was founded, Syria was partly controlled by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, which Russia and Iran supported. Consequently, Washington did not view Assad as a reliable partner in the fight against ISIS. The other alternative was the Syrian rebel groups, some of which were backed by Turkey. Ankara suggested using these groups to help fight ISIS. However, the groups were not well organized at the time, and the United States had already found partnering with the rebel groups against the regime to be a complex operation with mixed results.

The SDF grew out of the Kurdish Syrian People’s Defense Units (YPG). Turkey accused this group of close links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which the United States and Turkey label as a terrorist group. A direct partnership with the YPG was, therefore, out of the question. The United States and the anti-ISIS forces took a novel approach and crafted an umbrella group of militias including more groups beyond the Kurdish minority in eastern Syria. The Kurds had largely freed themselves from ISIS control by this time, having held off ISIS at the siege of Kobane in late 2014.

The SDF made immediate, though costly, territorial gains against ISIS in 2015 and 2016. By October 2017, the ISIS capital in Syria, Raqqa, had been liberated. The SDF’s advance was not without controversy. Ankara opposed the group and threatened invasion of areas being conquered by ISIS near the border with Turkey. Turkey followed up on these threats with an invasion of the YPG-held area of Afrin in 2018 and of Serekaniye in 2019.

As a result, Syria was divided by 2020. Turkey controlled parts of northern Syria. The SDF controlled Syria east of the Euphrates, a third of the country. The Assad regime controlled most of the rest. In this context, it wasn’t clear what would become of the SDF, which held thousands of ISIS detainees. Neither Iraq nor Assad’s Syria wanted the detainees back, and the SDF debated how to put them on trial. As such, everything remained in limbo.

When the Assad regime fell in December 2024, new questions arose. With a new government in Damascus and ISIS largely defeated, the SDF mission appeared to have served its purpose. The major question for the new authorities in Damascus was whether they would integrate the SDF units into the new security forces. The units had been trained with US backing and thus presented the new authorities in Damascus with a ready-made disciplined force.

Abdi has said over the last two weeks that the SDF has been largely integrated into the new security forces. “We hereby announce, as of today, the conclusion of the mission of the Syrian Democratic Forces, and we responsibly declare its dissolution as an independent military force,” Abdi said in Damascus last week after a meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. “We will always carry the memory of our martyrs, and hold their sacrifices in our hearts and conscience—for they did not fight for the sake of war, but for a day when Syrians would no longer need to fight,” Abdi noted.

Abdi argued that now that Syria is at peace, it is time to transition from the battlefield to rebuilding the country. Syria has been at war since 2011 when the Assad regime began to suppress Syrian protests that year. Since the fall of the regime, most of the violence has ended. However, Damascus still faces challenges. The Druze minority in southern Syria has demanded autonomy or independence. Israel has backed them. In other areas of Syria, there are still terror threats, and there have been attacks on groups accused of links to the former regime, such as the Alawite minority. This leaves much unsettled in the country.

The SDF’s integration appeared to be a major hurdle for Syria. Ideologically, the SDF commanders and units are very different than the Syrian rebels who toppled the Assad regime in December 2024. The SDF is largely Kurdish, and its top members subscribe to a far-left ideology. The members of Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and other rebel groups are mostly Arab, conservative, and Sunni muslim in outlook. However, Syria’s president, a former HTS leader, and the leader of the SDF reached an agreement to integrate the SDF into the Syrian Armed Forces, with US backing. With US sanctions on Syria rescinded as of August 24, Damascus is now positioned to capitalize on the transition fully.

Abdi is likely to play a role in Syria’s future. His long experience fighting ISIS and his ability to navigate complex political crises, balancing support from Washington with the SDF’s own needs, have marked him as a competent leader. Recognizing this, Sharaa tapped him for an advisory role. Damascus has already appointed former SDF commander Sipan Hamo for a deputy defense ministry position. SDF officers proved over the last decade that they could keep terrorist threats in check and stabilize large sections of the country, making them potential assets for the new regime. 

The SDF’s success provided the United States with many lessons on working with partner forces. Its narrowly tailored mission showed that clear, limited goals aligned with local support can lead to success even in a country as thorny as Syria.

About the Author: Seth Frantzman

Seth Frantzman is the author of Drone Wars: Pioneers, Killing Machine, Artificial Intelligence and the Battle for the Future (Bombardier 2021) and an adjunct fellow at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He is the acting news editor and senior Middle East correspondent and analyst at The Jerusalem Post. Seth has researched and covered conflict and developments in the Middle East since 2005 with a focus on the war on ISIS, Iranian proxies, and Israel’s defense policy. He covers Israeli defense industry developments for Breaking Defense and previously was Defense News’ correspondent in Israel. Follow him on X: @sfrantzman.

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