Syrian Army Reclaims North, Ending Kurdish Self-Rule

A major shift is underway in Syria’s decade-long civil war, as the national army rapidly advances into northern regions long held by Kurdish-led forces. This military campaign, marked by clashes, defections, and broken truces, is dismantling a de facto autonomous Kurdish administration and reasserting the Damascus government's control over the country's northeast.

The Syrian Arab Army is conducting operations with the stated goal of ending the autonomous rule of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led militia alliance [52760]. The SDF, which was the main United States partner in the ground fight against the Islamic State group, had governed large areas since 2014 [52760][44841]. Recent days have seen the army capture key northern cities and critical infrastructure, including the Tabqa dam and major energy fields [52877][52940].

This advance follows the collapse of multiple ceasefire and negotiation attempts between the government and the SDF. Talks repeatedly failed over a core disagreement: the SDF sought guaranteed self-rule, while Damascus demanded the group's full integration into the state's military and administrative structures [44841][52877]. The breakdown has led to direct combat, with both sides accusing the other of violating withdrawal agreements [52761][46138].

The SDF's position has been severely weakened by the defection of Arab tribal allies and fighters to the government side [53605][45867][46199]. These defections, some involving roughly 100 personnel at a time, have eroded the alliance's cohesion and symbolic strength [45867][46199]. Facing the much larger Syrian military, SDF commanders have ordered strategic withdrawals from areas east of Aleppo and key resources like the Al-Omar oil field, repositioning forces east of the Euphrates River [52136][53155].

The United States, which previously provided critical support to the SDF, has not intervened to stop the Syrian army's advance, a move analysts see as an abandonment of its former ally [52760]. The rapid government gains are effectively ending over ten years of Kurdish self-rule established during the chaos of the civil war [52877].

While some agreements outline a formal handover of SDF institutions to Damascus [53163], the process is unstable. Experts warn that as conventional control slips away, Kurdish forces may resort to guerrilla warfare, threatening a new phase of irregular conflict in the region [53155]. The military campaign is significantly redrawing the map of northern Syria, centralizing power with the government in Damascus for the first time in years.