On 8 December 2024, the day that the Assad regime fell, Israel invaded southern Syria, subsuming the Golan Heightsbuffer zone and capturing Quneitra, the Syrian portion of Mount Hermon, and surrounding towns and villages, while also carrying out a bombing campaign against Syrian military bases. Israel has maintained a military occupation of the buffer zone.[35][36] The Turkish-backed SNA launched an offensive against the SDF, which ended with the capture of Manbij on 11 December.
At the Syrian Revolution Victory conference held in Damascus on 29 January 2025, the new government appointed al-Sharaa as president of Syria during the transitional phase and announced the dissolution of several armed militias and their integration into the Syrian Army under the Syrian Ministry of Defense.
Clashes broke out between SDF and SNA forces as SDF forces began to enter government-controlled towns in northern Aleppo, which government forces were retreating from due to the HTS-led offensive on Aleppo from Idlib.[37] On 1 December 2024, SNA captured the towns of as-Safirah, Khanasir and the Kuweires airbase, while clashes occurred between SNA and SDF in the Sheikh Najjar district of Aleppo city.[38]
On 6 December 2024, the SNA launched an offensive targeting the SDF-controlled city of Manbij.[39] As the last SDF-controlled area west of the Euphrates, Manbij represented a crucial strategic point for Turkey's goal of pushing the SDF eastward beyond the river to enable the SNA to advance toward Kobani.[40] According to the SOHR and the pro-SDF thinktank Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), Turkey conducted drone strikes on SDF positions in Manbij.[40] On 9 December 2024, the SOHR reported, the SDF withdrew from most of Manbij after intense fighting with the SNA and Turkish airstrikes on Qarqozaq bridge.[41] On 11 December, Mazloum Abdi, commander-in-chief of the SDF, announced that SDF soldiers "will be withdrawn from the area as soon as possible" following a US-brokered ceasefire agreement.[42] On 12 December 2024, a truce mediated by the United States was announced, though it was ended days later.[43] On 17 December 2024, the truce was extended by a week.[44] Turkish Armed Forces launching airstrikes in the vicinity of Kobani later that month.[45]
On 23 December 2024, the SDF's Manbij Military Council launched an offensive in the eastern countryside of Aleppo to regain control of positions around the Tishrin Dam and to gain further territory along the Euphrates River.[46][47]
On 10 March 2025, the SDF signed an agreement with the Syrian caretaker government to join Syria's new state institutions.[48]
Direct clashes have also occurred between the SDF and Syrian government. The first clashes were reported on 2 August 2025 near Dayr Hafir and al-Khafsah.[49][50] On 12 August, one Syrian Army soldier was killed in clashes with the SDF near Dayr Hafir.[51][52][53] In addition the government's Ministry of Information claimed that two civilians were killed and three injured.[54] Coinciding with the clashes the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) warned of a 'wider conflict' if the US does not remain fully engaged in preventing the collapse of the March agreement.[55]
On 6 October 2025, clashes erupted between forces affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces and government troops in the neighborhoods of Ashrafiyah and Sheikh Maqsoud. Following the confrontation, government forces closed all roads leading into the two neighborhoods, effectively restricting movement and access.[56][57] Residents protested the closures, demanding freedom of movement, and some demonstrations were met with tear gas and live fire by security forces.[58]
Heavy exchanges of fire, including small arms and medium weapons, were reported in the neighborhoods, resulting in casualties on both sides and displacing some families.[59] Kurdish authorities accused the government-aligned forces of attempting to infiltrate the neighborhoods and targeting civilians.[60] The Syrian Ministry of Defense stated that army movements in northern and northeastern Syria respond 'to repeated SDF attacks on civilians and security forces'.[61] Calm returned to the Kurdish-majority neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyah after a preliminary agreement between Syrian government forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces.[62][63]
↑ "Iran Update > Syria". The Institute for the study of War. 4 February 2025. Retrieved 5 February 2025. US-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) Commander Salem Antari, who controls US-backed "Free Syrian Army" forces in the al Tanf zone, stated on February 3 that the FSA is negotiating with the interim government to integrate into the interim Defense Ministry. Antari added that the FSA is prepared to assume any duties assigned to it by the new Defense Ministry.
"The end of Syria's forever war". Al Jazeera. Dec 2024. Rapid advances by Syrian opposition forces end a war that began with peaceful protests before spiralling out of control.
Yıldırım, Kürşat; Ercan, Murat (April 2025). "Geopolitical and strategic analysis of the Syrian problem after regime change". Akademik Hassasiyetler-The Academic Elegance: 619. These conflicts, which lasted for nearly 13 years, ended on 8 December 2024 when Bashar al-Assad, the last representative of the 61-year Baathist regime, fled the country
"Israel launches bombing raids in Syria and Lebanon". The Guardian. July 2025. In Syria, the transitional government has said it had sent the forces south to end days of clashes between Druze and Bedouin groups, who remained armed following the end of the civil war.
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