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Syrian Democratic Forces

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)[a] is a Kurdish-led[12][104][105] coalition formed by ethnic militias and rebel groups, and serves as the official military wing of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).[106][107][108] The SDF is allied to and supplied by the United States–led CJTF–OIR international alliance.[104] Founded in 10 October 2015, the SDF claims that its mission is fighting to create a secular, democratic and federalised Syria. The SDF is opposed by Turkey, who claims the group has direct links to the PKK, which it recognizes as a terrorist group.[109]

Syrian Democratic Forces

SDF General: Mazloum Abdi[1]
SDF Spokesman: Kino Gabriel[2]

10 October 2015 – present

Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria

Groups based in all of Northeastern Syria

Groups based in the Jazira Region & Deir ez-Zor Governorate

Groups based in the Euphrates Region

Groups based in the Afrin Region, Manbij Region, & Aleppo city (including Sheikh Maqsood), withdrew to Manbij in March 2018

Groups based in the Manbij Region

Groups based in the Raqqa District & Al-Thawrah District

Qamishli (capital city)[47]

Northern Syria

Democracy
Decentralization
Secularism
Ethnic minority rights
Regionalism
Factions:

100,000 (2021 estimate)[50]

Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria NES police forces

Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria NES civilian defence forces

Syrian Civil War

Formed as a rebel alliance in the Syrian civil war,[110][111] the SDF is composed primarily of Kurdish, Arab, and Assyrian/Syriac, as well as some smaller Armenian, Turkmen and Chechen forces.[112][10] It is militarily led by the People's Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia recognized as a terrorist group by Turkey. SDF also includes several ethnic militias, and various factions of the Syrian opposition's Free Syrian Army.[113][114]


The primary opponents of the SDF are the 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. The SDF has focused primarily on the ISIL,[115] successfully driving them from important strategic areas, such as Al-Hawl, Shaddadi, Tishrin Dam, Manbij, al-Tabqah, Tabqa Dam, Baath Dam, and ISIL's former capital of Raqqa.[116][117][118][119][120][121] 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.[122]


Since the territorial defeat of ISIL, the SDF has increasingly been involved with resisting the growing Turkish occupation of northern Syria.[123]

Establishment[edit]

Foundation[edit]

The establishment of the SDF was announced on 11 October 2015 during a press conference in al-Hasakah.[124] The alliance built on longstanding previous cooperation between the founding partners.[125] 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.[126] 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.[127]


Geographically focused on the Manbij Region was the Army of Revolutionaries (Jaysh al-Thuwar, JAT), itself an alliance 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.

Signatory groups[edit]

The following groups signed the founding document:[124]

On 6 January 2016 an additional 400 members of the Arab -based tribe al-Shaitat joined the SDF, sending fighters to Al-Shaddadah.[145]

Deir ez-Zor Governorate

On 5 February 2016, a group called Martyrs of Dam Brigade from an Arab village called al-Makhmar (liberated by the Syrian Democratic Forces in the ) joined the Northern Sun Battalion and the SDF.[146]

Tishrin Dam offensive

On 28 February 2016, a group called Martyr Qasim Areef Battalion from was formed and joined the Army of Revolutionaries and the SDF.[140]

Sarrin

On 10 March 2016, a group called the Soldiers of the Two Holy Mosques Brigade joined the Syrian Democratic Forces as part of the Northern Sun Battalion. It was formerly part of the Army of Mujahideen's 19th Division. The group operated in the northern Aleppo Governorate countryside, and also have a presence in Aleppo city and Kobani.

[140]

On 12 March 2016, it was reported that more than 200 locals from the earlier liberated areas around the town of joined the SDF, most of them Arabs.[147]

Shaddadi

On 19 March 2016, it was reported that a group under the name of ("Free Raqqa Brigade") joined the SDF.[148] The group had earlier been known under the name of Liwa al-Jihad fi Sabeel Allah ("Jihad in the Path of God Brigade") and had in September 2014 been part of the Euphrates Volcano operations room.[149]

Liwa Ahrar al-Raqqa

On 2 April 2016 the SDF established the with the goal of securing the city of Manbij and its surrounding countryside (Manbij offensive). The council also included previously unknown groups such as the Manbij Revolutionaries Battalion, or the Manbij Turkmen Brigade which joined the Northern Sun Battalion of the Army of Revolutionaries.[150]

Manbij Military Council

On 20 June 2016, a group called the Tel Rifaat Revolutionaries Battalion, with 250 members, joined the Kurdish Front of the Army of Revolutionaries.

[151]

On 23 June 2016 in the area, 158 al-Shaitat tribesmen from the FSA group Elite Forces, which was not yet an SDF component group at the time, defected to join the SDF component group, the Desert Hawks Brigade, consisting of members of that tribe.[152][153]

al-Shaddadah

On 14 August 2016, after securing , the SDF established the al-Bab Military Council with the goal of securing the city of al-Bab and its surrounding countryside.[154]

Manbij

On 21 August, in a similar fashion to the establishment of the Manbij and al-Bab Military Councils, the SDF established the with the goal of securing the city of Jarablus and its surrounding countryside. The council also includes the newly established group, the Manbij Revolutionary Brigades.[155][156][157] The commander of the council, General Sattar Jader from Jarabulus Hawks Brigades, was assassinated the next day, a suspect was later arrested.[158][159]

Jarablus Military Council

On 13 September 2016 the , consisting of members from the al-Shaitat and Shammar tribes and led by Ahmad Jarba, joined the SDF. While some of its members already had earlier defected and joined the SDF, the event was called a major political coup for the SDF, as Jarba was the former President of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces and now agreed to work with the Syrian Democratic Council framework instead.

al-Nukhbat Brigade

On 14 October 2016, the Free Officers Union, led by , said to number in the hundreds joined the SDF.[17][18]

Hussam Awak

On 31 October 2016, an all-female battalion was established within' the al-Bab Military Council.

[160]

On 8 December 2016, the was established.[21] The founding members consist of remnants of the former Free Syrian Army council of the same name, expelled from the city by the Islamic State in 2014, having joined the SDF in November 2016.[161]

Deir ez-Zor Military Council

On 12 October 2015, the confirmed U.S. C-17 transport aircraft dropped 100 pallets with 45 tons of arms and ammunition over SDF-controlled territory in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. Polat Can, spokesman of the SDF component militia People's Protection Units (YPG), identified the freight as being "assault rifles, mortars and ammunition, but no TOW anti-tank missiles nor anti-aircraft weapons".[185][186] The airdrop came only days after the Pentagon had officially abandoned its failed $500 million train-and-equip program that armed mainstream opposition groups who were also opposed to ISIL.[187]

Pentagon

During the SDF's February 2016 , there were US special forces embedded with the SDF forces who coordinated airstrikes against ISIL with the SDF.[188]

al-Shaddadi offensive

On 17 March 2016, the day after the declaration of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter praised the SDF component militia People's Protection Units (YPG) as having "proven to be excellent partners of ours on the ground in fighting ISIL. We are grateful for that, and we intend to continue to do that, recognizing the complexities of their regional role."

[189]

During the SDF's May 2016 offensive against ISIL in Northern Raqqa, the presence of was widely reported, and several photographs of them wearing badges of the YPG and YPJ on their uniforms circulated.[190]

U.S. Special Forces

In November 2015, merged with the Tribal Army to form Jabhat Thuwar al-Raqqa to become part of the SDF. After some tensions between the group and the People's Protection Units (YPG), on 6 January 2016 the group reportedly issued a statement stating it was disbanding.[237] Later the same month, some sources stated that the Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa reappeared, announcing it had decided to rejoin the SDF.[238]

Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa

Turkey has at various times tried and failed to incite tensions along ethnic lines within the SDF. At the height of one such attempts after the start of the summer 2016 Manbij offensive, Sheikh Farouk al-Mashi, an ethnic Arab former member of the Syrian parliament and designated co-chairman of the Manbij City Council, stated: "I have a Syrian ID, and Kurds have a Syrian ID. Let those people who talk against us in Turkey and Europe come here and fight ISIS. Why this distortion in media about problems between Kurds and Arabs?" Ethnic Kurdish fellow co-chairman Salih Haji Mohammed stated: "In our social contract, we say we want to have good relations with neighboring countries like Turkey. Any country that does not interfere in Manbij and our areas, we will have good relations with."[239] A fighter gave his perspective as "we have Arabs, Kurds, nobody knows how many exactly, we all work under the SDF-forces".[240]

[24]

In September 2016, during the , the leader of small SDF component group Liwa al-Tahrir, Abdul Karim Obeid, defected to the camp of Turkish-backed rebels with 20 to 100 of his men, citing opposition to reported YPG domination of the SDF, while SDF sources suggested he was displeased with the civil administration of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria replacing warlordist political rule in the Free Syrian Army style. The remaining fighters stayed with the SDF.[24]

Turkish military intervention in the Syrian Civil War

Also, in September 2016, during the Turkish military intervention, some Arab sources reported that Liwa Ahrar al-Raqqa clashed with the YPG, however two days later the Liwa Ahrar al-Raqqa's commander said that news about the clashes and defections were false, he denied that such clashes had ever happened.[241]

[25]

In mid-November 2016, Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa's political bureau, which has strong connections with Turkey, condemned the SDF's led by the YPG. This caused tensions between the group's political bureau, who opposes the YPG, and the overall leader and military commander of Jabhat Thuwar al-Raqqa, Abu Issa, who is allied with the YPG. Some members of Jabhat Thuwar al-Raqqa left the group and joined the SDF's Liwa Ahrar al-Raqqa, in response to the tensions.

Raqqa offensive

On 10 December 2016, the second phase of the campaign was announced, with Jabhat Thuwar al-Raqqa participating under the SDF. 2 weeks later, the Raqqa Hawks Brigade reportedly captured several Thuwar al-Raqqa military commanders and forced them to announce their defection. On 27 December, the commanders declared on video that they are still with Thuwar al-Raqqa.[242] On 20 February 2017, one sub-commander of the Raqqa Hawks Brigade, Abu Yamen al-Meko, who reportedly had strong links to the Military Intelligence Directorate, declared his loyalty to Bashar al-Assad and formed the pro-government unit "Tajamou al-Shamal". His followers consequently raised the Ba'athist flag at their headquarters in the village of al-Fares. These actions, however, provoked the ire of Jabhat Thuwar al-Raqqa, which launched a surprise attack on al-Fares two days later and destroyed al-Meko's faction, killing or capturing its members. Jabhat Thuwar al-Raqqa went on to declare that it "would never allow the regime and its supporting militia to re-enter the city [of Raqqa] by any means".[243][244]

Northern al-Raqqa

On 10 April 2017, a spokesman for the stated that the group is not part of the SDF, will cooperate with both the SDF and Peshmerga Roj to capture Deir ez-Zor, and rejected federalism.[245] On 15 April, this statement was denied by Muhammad Khalid Shakir, the official spokesman of the Elite Forces. He denied any disagreements between the Elite Forces and the SDF and said that "We are in the framework of the international coalition. The leadership of the coalition manages the operations on the ground. Our troops did not withdraw. We have completed the third phase of the Wrath of Euphrates Operation, and we will participate in all stages until Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor are freed."[246]

Elite Forces

On 28 September 2017, Yasser al-Dahla, commander of the Gathering of Youth, part of the SDF's Deir ez-Zor Military Council, was arrested by SDF military police, which said Dahla was effectively participating in the SDF's Deir ez-Zor offensive and the "lack of military discipline". The Gathering of al-Baggara Youth denied these charges, and said the Deir ez-Zor Military Council was denying Euphrates Shield fighters who defected to the SDF to join the Gathering. Dahla reportedly threatened to cease his group's participation in the Deir ez-Zor offensive.[247]

al-Baggara

On 15 November 2017, , surrendered or defected to the Turkish Army. The nature of his leaving the SDF being up for dispute.[172][173][174]

Talal Silo

On 20 December 2017, announced his resignation from the SDF on his Facebook page without providing any reasons.[16]

Hussam Awak

In May 2018, tensions began to build up between members of Arab tribes, including Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa, and the rest of the SDF and the over recruitment issues in Raqqa. A curfew was put in place in both Raqqa city and the rest of the governorate on 23 June, as the SDF and RISF besieged Thuwar al-Raqqa's headquarters and arrested between 90[248] and 200 of its members the next day.[249] By 25 June, the SDF and RISF captured all of Thuwar al-Raqqa fighters and their weapons in Raqqa, completely defeating the group, and the curfew was ended.[250] Following Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa's defeat by the SDF and RISF, Abu Issa met with tribal leaders and SDF officials to discuss surrender and reconciliation. He was reportedly offered a position in the SDF general command.[251] Abu Issa would later go on to deny he was ever arrested by the SDF or the RISF.[252]

Raqqa Internal Security Forces

On 27 August 2023, the SDF arrested Ahmad Al Khubail, also known as Abu Khawla, who headed its Deir al Zor Council. This led to widespread unrest by various Arab tribal clans, fuelled by grievances over social issues and corruption by the AANES officials. Tens of civilians and fighters died in the resulting fighting.

[253]

List of military equipment used by Syrian Democratic Forces

List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War

Syrian Democratic Council

Movement for a Democratic Society

Democratic Union Party (Syria)

Federalization of Syria

Rojava conflict

Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria

Foreign relations of North and East Syria

Relations with the Syrian government

YPG–FSA relations

Rashid, Bedir Mulla (2018) [1st pub. 2017]. . Translated by Obaida Hitto. Istanbul: Omran for Strategic Studies. Archived from the original on 1 July 2018.

Military and Security Structures of the Autonomous Administration in Syria

Austin Holmes, Amy (2019). (PDF). Middle East Program. 21 (16). Wilson Center.

"SDF's Arab Majority Rank Turkey as the Biggest Threat to NE Syria. Survey Data on America's Partner Forces"

(in Arabic)

Official website

(in Kurdish)

Official website

Official website

Fehim Taştekin: "US backing ensures Arab-Kurd alliance in Syria will survive", Al-Monitor, 8 September 2016