SDF forcibly drafts young men amid fear of conflict with Syrian government

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who control most of northeastern Syria, have launched a widespread conscription campaign targeting young men, in what is believed to be a preparation for confrontation with Syrian government forces, the Arabi 21 news website reported on Wednesday.

This came amid reports by Araby TV that the SDF targeted Syrian government positions near the Tishrin Dam on the Euphrates River on Wednesday afternoon, with drones and missiles, without causing casualties or damage.

SDF patrols detained dozens of young men in the cities of Raqqa and Hasakah, transporting them to so-called "self-defence" camps so they could be drafted into the SDF’s military forces.

Sources cited by Arabi 21 said that the SDF had recently increased the number of military checkpoints in some areas under its control to detain and forcibly draft men of military service age, especially those from Arab tribes.

The Syrian state news agency SANA reported that the SDF was targeting young people born between 1999 and 2007, adding that 22 people were detained in Raqqa in a single day.

While the SDF is led by Kurdish militias, most of the territory it controls is inhabited by ethnic Arabs.

Ali Tami, a Kurdish politician close to the Syrian government, told Arabi 21 that the aim of the detentions and conscriptions was to forestall the possibility of the men helping government forces if a conflict broke out between the government and the SDF.

The SDF has been stalling the implementation of an agreement signed between its leader, Mazloum Abdi, and Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa in Damascus on 10 March, which stipulates the integration of all its military and civilian institutions into the Syrian state.

"It is better to look for appropriate solutions and implement the March 10 agreement instead of the option of escalation and confrontation… war, it seems, has become a matter of time," Tami said.

Mahmoud al-Madhi, a Syrian politician from Al-Hasakah in northeast Syria, told Arabi 21 that the SDF had shown a lack of commitment to the March 10 agreement, pursuing those who raised Syrian flags, celebrated the December 2024 fall of former dictator Bashar al-Assad, and even those who expressed support for the agreement.

The SDF has also clashed with Syrian government forces along the frontlines. He said that the SDF could be doing this in response to growing global acceptance of the new Syrian government, as shown in the welcome received by Sharaa when he participated in the UN General Assembly in New York, becoming the first Syrian leader to do so since 1967.

"The SDF has come to realise that the political path undermines its authority and ends its dominance over the region’s resources. Therefore, it is now clearly seeking to mobilise through compulsory recruitment in preparation for a possible confrontation, without regard for what destruction may befall the region," al-Madhi said.