ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Syrian presidential team overseeing the January agreement between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Damascus on Tuesday described dissolution of the Kurdish-led force as a “pivotal event,” while stressing that the development does not indicate the completion of the integration process.

On Tuesday, Mazloum Abdi announced the dissolution of the SDF, one of the primary forces in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) and the main power-holder in northeast Syria’s Kurdish-majority region of Rojava since 2015.

Rojava and Damascus signed an agreement on January 29 that would see the Kurdish-led autonomous administration in northeast Syria brought under the auspices of the Syrian state, coming after violent clashes in Aleppo's Kurdish-majority quarters escalated into a broader offensive by Syrian forces under the leadership of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa into Rojava.

“The military integration of the SDF has been underway for several months, and today's announcement is the political culmination of this process,” Ahmad al-Hilali, spokesperson for the presidential team overseeing the January 29 agreement, told state-owned al-Ikhbariah. 

“Thousands of SDF members have been integrated into the brigade structures of the Ministry of Defense for several months,” he said, adding that the announcement does not mark “the end of the integration process.” 

Hilali stated that the Tuesday announcement is the product of over six months of continued work, under the direction supervision of Sharaa and follow-up of the presidential team.

The SDF was established in 2015 as a pluralistic, diverse force that had its backbone in the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). It contained elements from all segments of Rojava’s society, including Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, and Armenians. 

Following the violence, Sharaa in January issued a decree offering concessions designed to foster goodwill with Syria's Kurdish population, including recognizing Newroz as a national holiday, recognizing Kurdish as a national language that may be taught in public and private schools in Kurdish-populated areas, and abolishing the effects of the controversial 1962 census in Hasaka province, thus granting Syrian nationality to previously stateless Kurds.
 
The decree, however, has not been enshrined in Syria's new transitional constitution, and the elective nature of the Kurdish language offering for students who have spent their whole lives being educated in the language attracted criticism.