Middle East

Numbers of US-Backed SDF Fighters Join Syrian Army

A large number of Syrian Democratic Forces have joined the Syrian Army in Hasaka Province as the SDF has launched widespread forced recruitment of fighters in areas under its control in Eastern Syria, field sources said.

“Over 200 SDF fighters have recently defected and surrendered to the Syrian Army in Hasaka province,” the battlefield sources in Hasaka province reported.

The sources reiterated that the Kurdish forces have forced over 1,000 young people in Hasaka to join the SDF over the past month by conducting large-scale arrests and raids in areas under their control in Raqqa, Manbij, Hasaka and Deir Ezzur.

The sources pointed to people’s discontent and anger from the Kurdish forces’ measures, and said that a group of civilians have recently engaged in fierce clashes with the SDF members in an SDF garrison in Northern Hasaka.

In a relevant development in late February, a number of senior commanders and the SDF defected in Hasaka province and were transferred to areas controlled by the Syrian army in the region.

The Arabic-language al-Arabiya news website quoted informed sources in Hasaka as saying that 15 SDF fighters, including their senior commanders, defected the group.

They added that the defected SDF members escaped to the regions controlled by the Syrian army inside Hasaka city, noting that the SDF put on alert its forces after the incident.

In a relevant development earlier in February, tens of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces defected the SDF ranks and joined the Syrian Army while 100 others received government amnesty.

“Over 40 SDF forces have defected in Raqqa and joined the Syrian Army after laying down their arms in al-Tabaqa in Western Raqqa,” the Arabic-language service of the Russian Sputnik News Agency reported.

It noted that over 100 youth in Raqqa had also received amnesty after leaving the SDF-controlled areas for government-held territories.

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