The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces agreed to dissolve itself after the Syrian government said it would grant institutional roles to some of the military and political leaders of the country’s formerly autonomous northeastern region, a senior SDF official told MBN.
Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the force that helped defeat Islamic State and until January controlled parts of northern and eastern Syria, announced Tuesday that he was dissolving the group, a significant step toward an integration plan agreed with the Syrian government earlier this year.
“Today, we announce the end of the mission of the Syrian Democratic Forces, and we responsibly announce its dissolution as an independent military force,” Abdi said in a televised address broadcast by Syrian state television.
The government and the SDF agreed in January to gradually integrate the group’s Kurdish fighters into the state’s armed forces. Washington described the plan as “historic.”
The Kurdish official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Abdi would become a presidential adviser on Kurdish affairs. In that role, he would work within the presidency to oversee issues concerning the Kurds and implement understandings reached with Damascus after the military, security and administrative institutions of the region’s Autonomous Administration are integrated into the Syrian state.
Ilham Ahmed, the former co-chair of the Autonomous Administration’s Department of Foreign Relations, is set to take a position in Syria’s parliament, the official said, under previously agreed arrangements to assure Kurdish representation there. She would be responsible for managing and monitoring the Kurdish portfolio within the legislature and would participate in legislative discussions on the rights of Syrian Kurds in Syria.
Damascus has not officially confirmed the appointments. The person said the Syrian presidency would issue formal decrees in the coming days defining the legal status and powers granted to Abdi and Ahmed, along with other decrees related to the integration process.
In January 2026, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa recognized the Kurds as an indigenous component of the Syrian people and affirming their cultural rights, including recognition of Kurdish as a national language. The decree also granted citizenship to those who had been denied it and designated the Kurdish New Year, Nowruz, as an official holiday.
On security arrangements, the Kurdish official told MBN that border guard duties in all predominantly Kurdish areas would remain with SDF personnel after they are integrated into the state’s official military institutions.
The Kurdish People’s Protection Units, which formed the core of the SDF, had already been integrated into the state forces. Their commander, Siban Hemo, was appointed deputy defense minister for eastern Syria in March.
The understandings did not call for replacing existing border guards with personnel from other parts of the country, the person said. Instead, the forces would be reorganized and integrated while retaining their role in protecting the border and crossings in northeastern Syria.
The dissolution of the SDF comes as the new leadership in Damascus seeks to end the country’s internal conflicts and rebuild Syria, with U.S. support, after nearly 14 years of war and decades of isolation under former President Bashar al-Assad.
Adapted and translated from the original Arabic.
