SUMMARY
SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces, Arabic: Quwwāt Sūriyā al-Dīmuqrāṭīya, Kurdish: Hêzên Sûriya Demokratîk) was a coalition of Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian, Armenian and Turkmen militias and a participant in the Syrian Civil War.
The coalition was established on 10 October 2015 in Al Hasakah city with the purpose to build democratic and federal governance in northern Syria, as well as protect the people of the de-facto autonomous region of Rojava. The ideology of SDF was based on PKK founder Abdullah Öcalan's politics of democratic confederalism, a libertarian socialist ideology promoting a decentralized political system. Many of the militias had previously been fighting together against IS, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and other groups in the area, before creating the SDF.
Kurdish PYD constituted a large majority of the fighters, the other founding groups were Jaysh al-Thuwar, Syriac Military Council, Jaysh al-Sanadid, Raqqa Revolutionary Front, Gathering of the Al Jazire Brigades and Liwa al Tahrir. Several groups of varying size joined after the establishment of the SDF, most notably the Manbij Military Council. According to a 2017 estimate, the group consisted of between 66 000 and 76 000 fighters.
In their conflict with the Syrian government, SDF’s incompatibility was both governmental and territorial due to different claims made by the member groups. The PYD already had a territorial incompatibility, Syria: Rojava Kurdistan, while the groups they allied with had a governmental incompatibility. In spite of their incompatibility, the SDF and the regime maintained mostly peaceful relations while fighting their common enemies.
SDF was led by a military council with representatives from all constituent groups. The military council elected a general command, responsible for implementing the orders of the military council and for organizational tasks. Mazlûm Kobanî, former leader of PYD, was the general commander of SDF. Talal Silo, commander of Seljuk Brigade, was the official spokesperson for SDF until his defection in 2017. The defection was surrounded by controversy as Silo defected to the Turkish-backed FSA. SDF's headquarters were in Qamishli city. In December 2015, a political wing of SDF was founded, the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC).
SDF grew to become one of the most influential actors in Syria and fought their opponents on several fronts. The PYD had previously acquired control over areas in northern Syria, as the Assad regime had withdrawn their forces from the border areas in order to defend the capital. At the end of 2017, the SDF had come to control large parts of northern and eastern Syria. In 2018, SDF lost Afrin region in northwestern Syria, as it was captured by Turkish-backed Hawar Kilis Operations Room. Following heavy fighting in Deir Ezzor in March 2019, SDF pushed IS from its last territory in Syria after capturing the city of Baghuz, leaving SDF in control of the area east of the Euphrates river. However, in October 2019, Turkey together with the Turkish-backed SNA launched Operation Peace Spring, resulting in SDF loosing areas in northern Hasakah and Raqqa.
From 2015, the US-led international coalition supported SDF in their conflict against IS, providing material, military bases, air support as well as troops fighting on the ground. Russia provided to some extent the SDF with air support fighting Syrian opposition groups.
SDF has been involved in the intrastate and non-state categories of UCDP organized violence.
