After Syrian government troops captured the town of Tabqa, Arab residents toppled the statue of a Kurdish YPG fighter. Image: keystone
analysis
Government troops are advancing into areas previously controlled by the “Syrian Democratic Forces”. This means that the Kurds are losing their self-government in northeastern Syria.
January 24, 2026, 7:59 p.mJanuary 24, 2026, 7:59 p.m
Within a few days, the army of the Syrian transitional government under interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has advanced into areas in the north and east of the country previously controlled by the Kurdish-led “Syrian Democratic Forces” (SDF). First The Kurdish districts of Aleppo fellafter which the SDF troops were also attacked in Rojava, the self-governing Kurdish region. The government troops advanced across the Euphrates and brought more east of that river strategically important areas under their controlincluding oil fields and a dam.
Syrian Democratic Forces
Kurdish SDF commander Maslum Abdi was forced to sign a 14-point agreement with Al-Sharaa, effectively ending Syrian Kurdish self-rule in the northeast. The American special representative for Syria, Tom Barrack, who is also the US ambassador to Turkey, congratulated Sharaa and Abdi on X to their agreement that will bring a “brighter future for all Syrians”. To Kurdish ears, this must sound cynical, because the advance of government troops would hardly have been possible if the USA had fulfilled its role as an ally of the Kurds.
The SDF destroyed the Al-Rashid Bridge over the Euphrates to slow the advance of government troops. Image: keystone
And this advance is from atrocities committed by government troopssome of which consist of Islamists. Once again the Kurds in Syria have to fear for their lives and are fleeing their homeland in thousands. How did this come about?
People without a state
The KurdsThose who speak an Iranian language are the largest people who do not have their own state – the 35 to 45 million Kurds in the Kurdish settlement area (there are no exact figures) are spread across four states: Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. They are in Syria the largest minority and, depending on estimates, represent 8 to 15 percent of the population. Most of them are Sunni Muslims, but there are also Yazidis and members of other religious communities. Their main settlement areas are in the northeast in the al-Hasakah governorate and the Aleppo governorate. They were discriminated against under the Assads’ Arab nationalist Ba’athist regime.
The Kurdish settlement area extends across several states.Map: Shutterstock
Fight against the Islamic State
In the Syrian Civil War that broke out in 2011, the Syrian government lost control of the northeast and Kurdish militias managed to establish de facto independent territories there. These Kurdish militias were at the forefront in the fight against the terrorist militia of the “Islamic State” (IS), for example in the bitter battle for Kobani in 2014. The Kurdish militias allied with the USA were then the decisive force in largely pushing back IS, during which they were also able to conquer Arab-populated areas in northern Syria. Thousands of IS fighters have been imprisoned in Kurdish prisons.
In 2014, the Battle of Kobani raged. Image: AP
Turkish intervention
In 2016, the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, also known as “Rojava”, emerged from the Kurdish-controlled areas, which was never internationally recognized. Right from the start, Rojava was attacked by Türkiye, which bordered to the north. The government of Türkiye – the country is home to the largest Kurdish minority – considers the Kurdish militia YPG to be part of the Kurdish terrorist organization PKKwhich fights against the Turkish state. Ankara is working to prevent the emergence of an independent Kurdish state as much as possible. For this very reason, Turkish troops intervened several times in northern Iraq.
Rojava
A Turkish tank rolls towards the Syrian border in 2016. Image: AP
The Turkish army has been holding ever since a “safety zone” around 30 kilometers wide occupied along the border. There were serious human rights violations and ethnic cleansing against the Kurds there. Turkey also supported Islamist militias such as the Syrian National Army (SNA) and the Hai’at Tahrir ash-Sham (HTS)who fought against the Assad regime, but also against the Kurdish militias.
New Syrian government
After the sudden Collapse of the Assad regime End of 2024 the strategic position deteriorated of the de facto autonomous Kurdish region: a transitional government now took power in Damascus, whose interim president Al-Sharaa had once been a member of the Islamist terrorist group Al-Qaeda. The values of the new leadership in Damascus stand in stark contrast to the secular politics in Rojava, which emphasize socialism and feminism. The new government is also pursuing the centralization of Syria, which is already happening Massacres of Alawites and Druze came. Added to this was the re-election of Donald Trump as US President, who was feared would end support for the Kurds.
Overthrow of the Syrian government
Washington’s treason
Now, a good year later, this scenario has occurred. In several secret meetings, government representatives in Damascus are said to have succeeded in getting the US to sacrifice its Kurdish allies. This was the only way government troops were able to overrun the Kurdish-held areas so quickly. The US special representative Barrack posted a post on Xin which he announced Washington’s change of course with remarkable openness: The SDF’s role as a fighter against IS has had its day (“expired”), he wrote.
The US special envoy Barrack (l.) with the Syrian interim president Al-Shaara.Image: keystone
The US government may also be interested in one Normalization between Syria and US ally Israel. Kurdish sources suspect that the USA approved the advance against the Kurds so that interim President Al-Shaara would in return agree to a peace process with Israel, which had previously been hostile. However, there is no official information about this.
Arabic side change
The behavior of the local Arab tribes may also have been a key factor in the rapid collapse of the Kurdish position in northern Syria. The defeat in Aleppo was “apparently understood as a signal for an uprising” by the tribes, which had long been dissatisfied with Kurdish rule. writes political scientist Thomas Schmidinger.
Syrian government troops in a Kurdish neighborhood of Aleppo. Image: keystone
On January 17, the leadership of the Arab Shammar tribe officially withdrew its support for Rojava and recognized the government in Damascus. The Kurdish leadership of Rojava has not succeeded in retaining the more conservative Arab forces in the long term. The Islamism and Arab nationalism of the new regime in Damascus correspond far more closely to their socio-political positions than the socialist feminism of the Kurdish-dominated Rojava.
Fragile ceasefire
What will happen next with Rojava and the Kurdish population in northern Syria is still unclear. However, it looks as if the de facto autonomy of the Kurdish region cannot be maintained. There is currently a fragile ceasefire, largely based on the 14-point agreement and valid until Saturday evening. By then, the Kurds should develop a plan on how their institutions, such as the armed forces, should be integrated into the Syrian state apparatus.
Damascus has committed not to allow its troops to enter the centers of the Kurdish cities of Hasakah and Qamishli. Of course, the government troops are not very disciplined and it is questionable whether they will follow all of Al-Shaara’s orders. In any case, Kurdish sources report intensified attacks on Kobanê and the surrounding area by the Syrian government army, Islamist militias and the regular Turkish military. The city is de facto under siege.
It is currently unclear whether the Kurds will agree to the integration of their army into the Syrian government forces. As expert Schmidinger writes, this integration is a risk if there are no international security guarantees in return. At least the Kurdish civilian population would be spared a massacre, at least for the time being, said Schmidinger. Rojava’s political self-government would then come to an end.