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The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) [g] is a Kurdish-led [13] [104] [105] coalition of U.S.-backed left-wing [106] [107] ethnic militias and rebel groups, and serves as the official military wing of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES; also unofficially known as Rojava). [108] [109] [110] Founded on 10 October 2015, the stated mission of the SDF is to create a secular, democratic, and federalized Syria. The SDF is opposed by Turkey, who view the group as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which it has designated a terrorist group. [111] [112] On 10 March 2025, the SDF agreed to integrate into Syrian state institutions under the Syrian caretaker government. [113] Mazloum Abdi met with the committee formed by Ahmed al-Sharaa to implement the deal; further meetings were planned for April. [114]
Formed as a rebel alliance in the Syrian civil war with American support, [115] the SDF is composed primarily of Kurdish, Arab, and Assyrian/Syriac, as well as some smaller Armenian, Turkmen, and Chechen forces. It is militarily led by the People's Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia which is designated as a terrorist group by both Turkey and Qatar. The SDF also includes several ethnic militias and various factions of the Syrian opposition's Free Syrian Army.
Opponents of the SDF include various Islamist, Syrian nationalist, and pro-Turkish forces involved in the civil war. Major enemies include al-Qaeda affiliates, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Syrian National Army (TFSA), the Turkish Armed Forces, and their allies. Up to 2019, the SDF focused primarily on ISIL, [116] successfully driving them from important strategic areas such as Al-Hawl, Shaddadi, Tishrin Dam, Manbij, al-Tabqah, Tabqa Dam, Freedom Dam, and ISIL's former capital of Raqqa. [117] [118] [119] [120] [121] [122] In March 2019, the SDF announced the total territorial defeat of ISIL in Syria, with the SDF taking control of the last stronghold in Baghuz. [123] Since then, the SDF has increasingly been involved in combatting the TFSA and Turkish presence in northern Syria. [124]
The establishment of the SDF was announced on 11 October 2015 during a press conference in al-Hasakah. [125] The alliance built on longstanding previous cooperation between the founding partners. [126] While the People's Protection Units (Yekîneyên Parastina Gel, YPG) and the Women's Protection Units (Yekîneyên Parastina Jin, YPJ) had been operating throughout the regions of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, the other founding partners were more geographically focused.
Geographically focused on the Euphrates Region were the YPG's partners in the Euphrates Volcano joint operations room, several mainstream Syrian rebel factions of the Free Syrian Army, who had helped defend the Kurdish town of Kobanî during the Siege of Kobanî. Liwa Thuwwar al-Raqqa had been expelled by the al-Nusra Front and ISIL from the city of Raqqa for its alliance with the YPG. The group participated in the capture of Tell Abyad from the Islamic State.
Geographically focused on the Jazira Region in northeast Syria were the Assyrian Syriac Military Council (Mawtbo Fulhoyo Suryoyo, MFS) and the al-Sanadid Forces of the Arab Shammar tribe, both of whom had cooperated with the YPG in fighting ISIL since 2013. [127] The MFS is further politically aligned with the YPG via their shared secular ideology of democratic confederalism, which in the Assyrian community is known as the Dawronoye movement. [128]
Geographically focused on the Manbij Region was the Army of Revolutionaries (Jaysh al-Thuwar, JAT), originally an alliance within the FSA of several groups of diverse ethnic and political backgrounds, who had in common that they had been rejected by the mainstream Syrian opposition for their secular, anti-Islamist views and affiliations.[ citation needed ]
In 2017, then-Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command Raymond Thomas stated that they were aware of Turkey's concerns about the YPG's ties to the PKK since 2015. For this reason, it was necessary for YPG to change their name and incorporate the word "democratic". Thomas explained that this is how the name Syrian Democratic Forces came to be. [129]
The following groups signed the founding document: [125]
On 10 December 2015, after a two-day conference, the Syrian Democratic Council was established. Human rights activist Haytham Manna and Ilham Ehmed were elected co-chairman/woman at its founding. [130] The Assembly establishing the Syrian Democratic Council was made up of 13 members of different ethnic, economic and political backgrounds.
Initially, the mostly Kurdish YPG/YPJ comprised the majority of SDF and dominated it organizationally. [131] [132] However, it has had smaller minorities of other communities involved in it from the beginning, including Christians, Yezidis, Turkmen and Arabs. [133]
The participation of thousands of Arab troops fighting under the SDF, in its military councils as well as various militias and rebel groups, during the battle for Raqqa in 2015 initially made local Arab groups see that Arabs and the SDF could work together. This encouraged increased Arab membership at the time. [134] By 2017, the SDF was reported by the United States Department of Defense to have an Arab majority. [135] [136] A 2019 Wilson Center study also suggested that a majority of the Syrian Democratic Forces' personnel are Arabs. The study was based on a representative survey with 391 SDF fighters; of the total respondents, 68.7% were Arabs, 17.2% Kurds, 12.5% Christians, 0.9% Yezidis, and 0.6% Turkmens. By comparison, the SDF itself estimated at the time that 50–70% of its troops were Arabs, 30–50% Kurds, 5% Christians, 2% Yezidis, and 2% Turkmens. [137]
Unofficial figures, quoted in Al Majalla in 2021, similarly indicated a sizeable Arab majority, 65,000 out of 100,000 total. The Arab membership of the SDF may relate to the pay levels and conscription going on within the Arab majority Northeast Syria region, as the SDF has a mandatory 1 year of service for all men living in its area of control. [51]
In 2018, following a Turkish invasion into north west Syria, the SDF was forced from Afrin. [124] [138] In October 2019, the SDF had to retreat from Tell Abyad and Ras al-Ayn after a renewed Turkish invasion of Syrian territory. [124] As of 2022 [update] , the SDF controlled about 25% of the territory of Syria. [124]
At the time of its founding in late 2015, The Economist described the SDF as "essentially a subsidiary of the Kurdish YPG". [139] At the end of October, the al-Shaitat tribal militia, the Desert Hawks Brigade, joined the SDF to fight ISIL in the southern countryside of Hasakah Governorate. [140] In November, the FSA group Euphrates Jarabulus Battalions announced its accession to the SDF. [141] In December, members of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate-based Arab tribe al-Shaitat joined the SDF, sending fighters to al-Shaddadah. [142]
With continuous growth in particular due to Arab groups and volunteers joining, in March 2016 only an estimated 60% of the men and women in the SDF fighting force were ethnic Kurds. [143] Growth in particular of Arab, Turkmen and Assyrian participation in the SDF has since continued. In an interview on the first anniversary of the SDF's founding, spokesman Talal Silo, an ethnic Turkmen and former commander of the Seljuq Brigade, stated that "we started with 13 factions and now there are 32 factions", and that "90 percent" of the SDF growth since it began its operations were ethnic Arabs. [144] In the context of the November 2016 Northern Raqqa offensive, The Economist said the SDF fighting force to be composed of "about 20,000 YPG fighters and about 10,000 Arabs". [145] The next month in December 2016, Colonel John Dorrian, the Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman, stated that the SDF contained around 45,000 fighters, of which more than 13,000 were Arabs. [146]
According to a March 2017 statement of the Spokesman for the International Coalition forces, U.S. Colonel John Dorrian, 75 percent of the SDF forces fighting in Operation Wrath of Euphrates to isolate ISIL's de facto capital of Raqqa were Syrian Arabs, a reflection of the demographic composition of that area. "The Syrian Democratic Forces are a multi-ethnic and multi-sectarian organization, and that is one of the reasons why we're working with them and they have continued to build the Arab element of their force." [164] Concerning the SDF in general, Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend in the same month said that "I'm seeing what is probably a pretty broad coalition of people and the Kurds may be providing the leadership, because they have a capable leader who's stepped up to this challenge. And they are providing some of the organisational skill, but I see a large contingent about 23 to 25, 000 so far and growing, Arabs, who are marching to liberate their part of northern Syria. So, I don't see a Kurdish state. I see a multi-cultural, multi-party, multi-ethnic, multi-sectarian Syrian region being liberated from ISIS. Over." [165]
In late June, an analysis by the Counter Terrorism Center at West Point proclaimed a "growing acceptance of the SDF by Sunni Arab rebel groups" and a "growing legitimacy of the SDF". [163] Another analysis as of late June described the YPG as "only one faction of many within the SDF", however that "it's the YPG that makes the SDF reliable and effective. The SDF's other components function as auxiliaries to the SDF's 'backbone', the YPG, which ensures effective, unitary command and control." [166]
![]() | This section needs to be updated.(July 2018) |
![]() | This section needs to be updated.(July 2018) |
After the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, Abdi met with Syrian transitional president Ahmed al-Sharaa on 10 March 2025. Mazloum announced that the SDF agreed that it will integrate into state institutions. [113] [258] However, on 29 March, the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria also said it will not adhere to the decisions of the newly-formed transitional government, alleging that its composition allowed a single faction to maintain control and did not represent the diversity of Syria. [259]
On 15 March 2017, a video surfaced that showed members of the Northern Sun Battalion reportedly torturing an ISIL fighter, who had been captured while planting mines. One of these mines had reportedly killed nine fighters of the battalion, leading five others to take revenge on the ISIL militant. The Manbij Military Council condemned the act and announced that the involved Northern Sun Battalion fighters would be held for trial for violating the Geneva Conventions. [260] [261] The five accused were arrested on 17 March. [262]
On 24 April 2024, Amnesty International reported that there had been large-scale human rights violations of more than 56,000 people, including 30,000 children and 14,500 women, held indefinitely in at least 27 detention facilities for those with "perceived IS affiliation". According to the report among those held in this detention system are hundreds of Yazidis, Syrians, Iraqis, and foreign citizens from nearly 74 other countries. The report described the trials as "flawed", and many of the people in these camps were detained without charges. Detainees are held in inhumane conditions and subjected to torture including severe beatings, stress positions, and electric shocks with thousands having been forcibly disappeared. Women were also subjected to sexual and gender based violence by SDF security members as well as attacks by other prisoners for perceived "moral" infractions. [263] Amnesty International's secretary general Agnès Callamard has accused the US government of playing a central role in the creation and maintenance of this system. [263]
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) found that the SDF was responsible for the deaths of 274 children and 859 children were forcibly removed or forcibly disappeared by SDF in its annual report on violations against children in 2024. It was also reported that the SDF had attacked 48 schools and kindergartens and 12 health institutions. [264] Another report published by the same organization stated that the SDF was responsible for the deaths of 287 women and that 983 women have been unlawfully imprisoned by SDF. [265] Another report said that the SDF had imprisoned 61 teachers for not following the curriculum and expelled 550 teachers for refusing to join the army. [266] In another report published by SNHR, it was found that 3,417 people were arrested by the SDF and that no news was heard from them again. One of them, Syrian Kurdish opposition politician Amin Aisa al Ali, was detained by SDF forces without any legal justification. He was tortured and died in custody. His body was later returned to his family. [267] In a report published on 6 February 2025, the organisation determined that the SDF had killed 65 civilians, including one child and two women, with sniper fire in the city of Aleppo in two months. [268]
In June 2015, Amnesty International released a report accusing the YPG of forcibly displacing and destroying the homes of civilians. [269] The US State Department reacted by stating they would 'scrutinise' Amnesty International's accusations and that it had to determine if there was "any veracity to the claims", but showed concern by calling for any administrator in the area to rule "with respect for all groups regardless of ethnicity". [270] The report makes accusations of looting, coercing civilians to join their armed forces and the forced targeted displacement of 1400 families in the Turkman villages of Hammam al-Turkman, 800 Turkmen from Mela Berho and Suluk residents. The report offers unnamed witness testimony from reported victims, cross referenced with photo and video evidence, media reports, and satellite imagery to substantiate these reports. [269]
The Turkish government claimed that the YPG was carrying out ethnic cleansing of non-Kurdish populations as part of a plan to join the Jazira and Euphrates regions into a single territory. [271]
In a report published by the United Nations' Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic on 10 March 2017, the Commission refuted Amnesty International's reports of ethnic cleansing, stating that "though allegations of 'ethnic cleansing' continued to be received during the period under review, the Commission found no evidence to substantiate reports that YPG or SDF forces ever targeted Arab communities on the basis of ethnicity". [272] [273] [274]
In interviews, YPG spokespersons acknowledged that a number of families were in fact displaced. However, they placed the number at no more than 25, [275] and stated military necessity. They stated that the family members of terrorists maintained communications with them, and therefore had to be removed from areas where they might pose a danger. They further reported that ISIL was using civilians in those areas to plant car bombs or carry out other attacks on the YPG. [269]
In June 2014, Human Rights Watch criticized the YPG for accepting minors into their ranks, [276] picking up on multiple earlier reports of teenage fighters serving in the YPG. A report by the United Nations Secretary General stated that 24 minors under age of 18 had been recruited by the YPG, with 124 having been recruited by the Free Syrian Army and 5 by the Syrian Arab Army. [277] In response, the YPG and YPJ signed the Geneva Call Deed of Commitment protecting children in armed conflict, prohibiting sexual violence and against gender discrimination in July 2014, [278] and Kurdish security forces (YPG and Asayish) began receiving human rights training from Geneva Call and other international organisations with the YPG pledging publicly to demobilize all fighters under 18 within a month and began to enact disciplinary measures against commanders of the units that had involved in corruption and accepting recruit under age of 18 to their ranks. [279] [280] In October 2015 the YPG demobilized 21 minors from the military service in its ranks. [281]
In response to reports issued by international organisations such as Human Rights Watch, [282] the general command of the SDF issued a military order prohibiting the recruitment of children. [283] On 29 June 2019, Abdi, as representative of the SDF, signed the action plan of the United Nations aiming to prevent the enlistment of child soldiers in the armed forces. The action plan was signed to address the inclusion of the YPG in the SDF. [284]
In 2020, United Nations reported SDF as the largest faction in the Syrian civil war by the number of recruited child soldiers, with 283 child soldiers, followed by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham with 245 child soldiers. [285]
On 2 April 2016, SDF members and local police fired at a protest march from Umm Hajira to al-Hawl, killing a 15-year-old and injuring over a dozen others. [286]
On 9 May 2019, SDF members allegedly opened fire on protesters in the village of Al-Shheell, killing one person. [287]
On 21 April, a civilian was killed by SDF members in Al-Hasakah. [288]
On 26 June, an SDF member shot and killed a child and critically wounded another in Deir Ezzor. The perpetrator was under the influence of alcohol. [289] [290]
Along with their American counterparts, Emirati special forces are said to be training elements of the opposition. They constitute a kind of Arab guarantee among the Syrian Democratic Forces – an umbrella group dominated by the Kurds of the PYD, on whom the US are relying to fight IS on the ground.
Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. helped pay the stipends for the Syrian fighters the U.S. is supporting
[...] AANES' military wing, the Syrian Democratic Forces [...]
[...] the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) and its military wing, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) [...]
[...] the AANES and its military wing, the SDF [...]
the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were responsible for the killing of 274 children...3,702 children are still detained and/or forcibly disappeared by Syrian regime forces, 319 by ISIS, 47 by HTS, 859 by SDF...1,270 schools and kindergartens were attacks by regime forces, 222 by Russian forces, 48 by SDF...The report also documents no fewer than 889 attacks on medical facilities in the same time period. A total of 562 attacks were carried out by regime forces, 209 by Russian forces, 19 by ISIS, 16 by all armed opposition factions/SNA, 16 by US-led International Coalition forces, 12 by SDF
the report reveals that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were responsible for the deaths of 287 females...8,979 females are still detained and/or forcibly disappeared by Syrian regime forces, 49 by HTS, 983 by SDF
Syrian Democratic Forces have arrested/ detained at least 61 teachers over educational curricula and for forced conscription since the beginning of 2021, in addition to persecuting nearly 550 teachers arbitrarily dismissed from their jobs for refusing forced conscription in the governorates of Raqqa, Deir Ez-Zour and Hasaka.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) issued a report today condemning Syrian Democratic Forces' forcible disappearance and killing by torture of Amin al Ali, noting that enforced disappearance and torture have become standard strategies used by the Syrian Democratic Forces, with nearly 3,417 persons forcibly disappeared and at least 67, including one child and two women, killed under torture in Syrian Democratic Forces' detention centers since the group's establishment.
We'll look closely at all these accusations to determine whether there's any veracity to the claims ... We call on those who actually are or will participate in administering these areas to do so inclusively and with respect for all groups regardless of ethnicity
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday said he was troubled by the advance of Kurdish forces, saying they could in the future create a structure to threaten Turkey.
Actual numbers are expected to be higher.... A number of pro-Government groups, including Hizbullah, also reportedly recruited children in small numbers.
Amnesty International this month faulted the Kurdish administration for arbitrary detentions and unfair trials.... [Ciwan] Ibrahim said ... efforts were underway to improve its human rights record.... The Geneva Call ... promotes good treatment of civilians in war zones...