ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi, on Tuesday announced the dissolution of the Kurdish-led force, declaring its mission complete.
"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 following a meeting with Syrian interim 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," he added.
The SDF and the Syrian government signed an agreement on January 29 to integrate the force, along with the Kurdish region's security and administrative bodies, into state structures. The deal followed weeks of clashes between both sides.
SDF fighters have been incorporated into the Syrian army as brigades while remaining deployed in the Kurdish region. Abdi announced on Thursday that the integration process had been completed.
"We want this day to mark a real transition: from the battlefield to the field of development, from the era of arms to the era of peace, and from defending Syria to building Syria," Abdi said on Tuesday.
He noted that "the right to education in Kurdish is among the most fundamental rights of our Kurdish people."
In an interview with Rudaw earlier this month, Abdi said discussions with government officials had focused on Kurdish-language schooling, reporting progress in the talks.
Three informed sources told Rudaw's Nalin Hassan that Abdi has been offered a role as an advisor to al-Sharaa, while Elham Ahmad, head of Rojava's foreign relations office, was offered a position on the parliamentary foreign affairs committee. Another source said Abdi has accepted the offer, but it remains unclear if Ahmad has accepted hers.In a Damascus press conference, SDF chief Mazloum Abdi announced the dissolution of the Kurdish-led force following a meeting with Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
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However, neither the Kurdish officials nor Damascus have confirmed the reports.
The SDF was founded in 2015 as a Kurdish-led military coalition that served as the de facto army of the Kurdish autonomous administration in Rojava. With the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) forming its core alongside Arab and Christian factions, the SDF acted as the primary ground partner of the US-led global coalition in the campaign to defeat the Islamic State (ISIS).
Tom Barrack, US President Donald Trump’s Special Envoy for Syria and Iraq, welcomed the SDF dissolution as “absolutely historic” and said in his post on X that Trump’s “far-sighted leadership opened the path for the SDF’s orderly integration into Syrian state institutions—transforming past division into lasting partnership and restoring to the Syrian people the opportunity to shape their common future.”
He also confirmed that Abdi and Ahmad will have positions in the government and that Kurdish education has been recognized.
“Recognizing the Kurdish language in education and securing substantive roles for our valued partners Mazloum Abdi and Ilham Ahmed within the Syrian government pays due respect to their leadership, the sacrifices of our Kurdish partners, and the constructive contribution they have made to regional stability—turning yesterday’s separations into tomorrow’s shared purpose,” he noted.
The US is one of the key guarantors of the January 29 agreement, with Barrack holding numerous meetings with Sharaa and Abdi since he assumed his position as Trump’s envoy for the war-torn country.
Updated at 11:31 pm
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