The SDF is an American-backed armed group in north-east Syria that includes a proxy of the PKK. The fall of the Assad regime left the SDF vulnerable to attacks by the so-called Syrian National Army, a coalition of Turkish-backed militias. In June 2025 America announced it would close seven of its eight army bases in Syria, leaving just one. Donald Trump is keen to pull out American troops entirely. America has no plans to break with the SDF, which Turkey considers a terrorist group, though its military footprint is shrinking rapidly.
The SDF said it would integrate its fighters into Syria's new army, though Turkey has accused it of not being serious. The SDF also agreed to hand over the north-east's border crossings, airports and oilfields to Damascus. As of late 2025 none of this had happened; the SDF has been playing for time while al-Sharaa's team is overwhelmed by the mammoth task of rebuilding the country. The SDF's reluctance hardened after forces loyal to Syria's government carried out brutal attacks on Alawites and Druze, two of the country's other big minority groups. Turkey has had no patience for such concerns and renewed calls on the SDF to abide by the March agreement, or face Turkish tanks.
Since the SDF's accord with Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria's president, normalisation has progressed. The SDF and the government swapped 470 prisoners in June 2025. Kurds are working with the government to facilitate the return of Kurds who fled Afrin, a Kurdish city in north-west Syria which the Turkish army and its proxies captured in 2018.
The SDF hopes to bargain for a federal arrangement similar to Kurdish semi-autonomy in Iraq, though Erdoğan, who wields considerable influence in Syria, is likely to resist such a plan.
The SDF guarded around 35,000 people in detention camps in north-east Syria, the largest of which is al-Hol, near the Iraqi border. The camp holds Syrians, Iraqis and a foreigners' "annexe" of jihadists still loyal to Islamic State. When the SDF collapsed in January 2026, Kurdish guards fled and fighters loyal to Ahmed al-Sharaa moved in. More than 100 detainees escaped amid the chaos. America is moving as many as 7,000 of the most dangerous detainees to Iraq.
The SDF has long been America's preferred partner against Islamic State. But al-Sharaa's rapprochement with the White House—culminating in a November 2025 visit and Syria's formal accession to the anti-IS coalition—may change that calculation. America may feel a sense of loyalty to the SDF for their battles over the years against IS, but in Damascus the SDF's federal, decentralising ambitions are seen as the biggest threat to al-Sharaa's project.
Murray's Rule: Any country with "democratic" in the title isn't.