Syrian Democratic Forces

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) was a Kurdish-led coalition of left-wing ethnic militias and rebel groups, which served as the official military wing of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES; also unofficially known as Rojava) from 2015 to 2026. Founded on 10 October 2015, the stated mission of the SDF was to create a secular, democratic, and federalized Syria. The SDF was opposed by Turkey, who viewed the group as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is internationally designated a terrorist group. Formed as a rebel alliance in the Syrian civil war with American support, the SDF was composed primarily of Kurdish, Arab, and Assyrian/Syriac, as well as some smaller Armenian, Turkmen, and Chechen forces. It is militarily led by the People's Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia which is designated as a terrorist group by both Turkey and Qatar. The SDF also includes several ethnic militias and various factions of the Syrian opposition's Free Syrian Army. Opponents of the SDF included various Islamist, Syrian nationalist, and pro-Turkish forces involved in the civil war. Major enemies included al-Qaeda affiliates, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Syrian National Army (TFSA), the Turkish Armed Forces, and their allies. Up to 2019, the SDF focused primarily on ISIL, successfully driving them from important strategic areas such as Al-Hawl, Shaddadi, Tishrin Dam, Manbij, Tabqa, Euphrates Dam, Mansoura Dam, and ISIL's former capital of Raqqa. In March 2019, the SDF announced the total territorial defeat of ISIL in Syria, with the SDF taking control of the last stronghold in Baghuz. After that, the SDF was increasingly involved in combatting the TFSA and Turkish presence in northern Syria. In January 2026, the Syrian transitional government launched an offensive against the SDF in northeastern Syria, leading...