Syrian Democratic Forces
| Syrian Democratic Forces link Twitter Website | |
|---|---|
| File:Syrian Democratic Forces.png | |
| Headquarters | Qamishli (capital city) |
| Staff | 50,000 |
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious alliance of mainly Kurdish and Arab militias which was founded in October 2015 in the city of Al-Hasakah with the aim of fighting to create a secular, democratic and federal Syria, along the lines of Kurdistan's Rojava region in Northern Syria.[1]
In January 2023, SANA reported that the QSD militia stormed a number of houses in Rmaileh neighbourhood, east of Raqqa city, kidnapped a number of young men, while other armed groups affiliated to the militia stormed the neighbourhoods of al-Tabqa city and al-Mahmoudali town and the adjacent villages, west of the city, kidnapped a number of young men and took them to its military camps to force them to fight in its ranks. Later, QSD militia intensified its storming campaigns in a number of areas in Al-Hasakah southern countryside and Raqqa city, and kidnapped dozens of young men and took then to unknown destination.[2]
Military offensive
In August 2017, the US-backed SDF began preparations for a military offensive against Deir Ezzor to prevent the Syrian Arab Army from re-establishing military control over the oil rich-territory.[3]
Two options for the SDF
On 31 May 2018, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad warned US-backed Kurdish forces he would not hesitate to use force to retake the third of the country they control:
- "The only problem left in Syria is the SDF," Assad told Russia Today, referring to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces which have spearheaded battles against Islamic State group jihadists. "We're going to deal with it by two options," he said. "The first one: we started now opening doors for negotiations. Because the majority of them are Syrians, supposedly they like their country, they don't like to be puppets to any foreigners," Assad said.
- "We have one option, to live with each other as Syrians. If not, we're going to resort... to liberating those areas by force. It's our land, it's our right and it's our duty to liberate it, and the Americans should leave. Somehow they're going to leave," he said.[4]