Syrian Democratic Forces: Rebels with a cause

When civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, one of the first things Bashar al-Assad’s regime did was to pull back troops from the country’s north-east so that they could defend the heartland against militias. This gave an opportunity to Syria’s Kurds, the country’s largest ethnic minority who make up some 10% of its population, to establish a de facto autonomous government in the region. In 2012, they established the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, also known as Rojava. In late 2015, the new administration formally established an armed wing called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). In the subsequent years, the SDF would emerge as a highly effective ground force in the war against the Islamic State (IS) in the region.

After Mr. Assad crushed most of his enemies by 2016-17, with help from Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, his government entered into a detente with the Rojava. The SDF did not directly challenge Mr. Assad’s authority. Mr. Assad’s regime did not recognise the autonomous government, but stopped short of attacking the SDF. There was tense stability.

Mr. Assad’s government collapsed on December 8. The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), formerly al-Qaeda’s Syria branch, has now captured Damascus. The HTS is backed by Türkiye, which sees the SDF as a terrorist entity. The Kurds are now caught between a pro-Turkish Islamist group that’s in power in Damascus and a hostile Turkiye across the border.

Kurds are often referred to as “a people without a state”. They are divided among four countries — Türkiye, Iraq, Syria and Iran. In Iraq, they have enjoyed autonomy ever since the first Gulf war. In Türkiye, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has been fighting a bloody civil war against the state for decades. When the Syrian Kurds established their own autonomous government and militia, Türkiye got alarmed because it thought the empowerment of Syrian Kurds would invariably strengthen the Turkish Kurds.

The main political party among Syrian Kurds was the Democratic Union Party (PYD). The People’s Protection Units (YPG) was its armed wing. Türkiye considered both the PYD and the YPG as extended arms of the PKK and designated all of them as terrorist organisations.

Battle against IS

The YPG assumed regional prominence when the Islamic State, which seized eastern Syria’s Raqqa and Deir Ezour, turned to Kobane, a Kurdish town on the Turkish-Syrian border.

The YPG, backed by U.S. air power, defeated the IS in Kobane in 2015, which marked the beginning of the downfall of the IS’s ‘Caliphate’, established across Syria and Iraq. Türkiye, a NATO ally of the U.S., strongly opposed America’s support for the YPG.

Later in 2015, the SDF was created, with the YPG being its core. Other smaller Arab militias, who were also threatened by the IS, also signed up for the SDF. Ever since, the SDF has acted as the official military wing of the Rojava.

In its battle against the Islamic State, the SDF continued to get support from the U.S. America still has less than 1,000 troops in Syria, in the name of fighting terrorism, and they coordinate with the SDF. In 2018 and 2019, Türkiye carried out limited military incursions into Syria, aimed at capturing SDF-held territories and creating a buffer on the border. Tensions flared up recently when the HTS-led Islamist militants were advancing towards Damascus. The Syrian National Army (SNA), a Turkish proxy and an ally of the HTS, attacked the SDF in the border region and captured more territories.

As Syria changes, the SDF’s focus is on protecting Kurdish autonomy. Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, Syria’s new ruler, has promised to respect the country’s diversity but said nothing about Kurdish autonomy. Türkiye, whose hands have been strengthened by the fall of Mr. Assad’s regime, has demanded demobilising the SDF.

Türkiye has also mobilised troops along its border, triggering fears that it was planning to launch another incursion. The SDF, caught between an uncertain future and a challenging present, says the threat from Türkiye is weakening its counter-terror operations. “The danger of an Islamic State resurgence has doubled ever since Assad has fallen,” says General Mazloum Abdi, an SDF commander who led battles against the jihadists in the past. “Daesh (IS) has captured weapons from retreating Syrian government troops in recent weeks. Their activity has increased significantly,” he adds.