The SDF formed in 2015 from the Kurdish YPG/YPJ plus Arab, Assyrian, and other local groups to fight ISIS after the 2014 caliphate. The U.S. armed, advised, and flew for it after Kobani; Baghouz in 2019 ended the territorial caliphate. It then ran much of northeast Syria. Turkey treats the YPG as PKK-linked; Ankara and Washington list the PKK as terrorist.

On 25 August Mazloum Abdi said in Damascus, after a deal with President Ahmed al-Sharaa, that the SDF was dissolving as an independent force and entering the army as brigades, with the Autonomous Administration folded into state bodies. A 10 March 2025 Sharaa–Abdi deal (borders, oil and gas, airports to the state; Kurdish citizenship and political rights) was thin. In January 2026 government forces took large SDF ground; a ceasefire put SDF people into defence and interior while Damascus took crossings, fields, and civilian offices. Days after dissolution, Sharaa named Abdi a presidential adviser.

Author: this is the model—communal rights, no separate guns or proto-state. Still open: other militias; Sweida’s Druze; a national compact for Kurds, Druze, Alawites, Christians, and others; ministries, courts, tax, and services. Constitutional Declaration (13 March 2025): five-year transition to a permanent constitution and elections (outer horizon March 2030). People’s Assembly (July 2026): 210 seats, two-thirds from regional colleges, 70 named by Sharaa. Next: the drafting body.

The SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) was formed back in 2015. 

A year earlier ISIS had proclaimed itself to be a worldwide caliphate, claiming religious and political authority over all Muslims. It then proceeded to conquer and absorb great swathes of Syria and Iraq, and was designated a terrorist organization by the UN, the US and many countries, including Muslim-majority states.

Opposing ISIS in northern Syria were the Kurdish-led YPG (People’s Protection Units).  Together with the closely linked YPJ (Women’s Protection Units), they joined with Arab, Assyrian and other local armed groups to create a broader coalition, and this became the SDF. 

The US had already begun supporting the YPG, particularly during the battle for Kobani in........

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