ADRIAN FLORIDO, HOST:
Leaders of Syria's Kurdish region have dissolved their security forces and regional administration. That's paved the way for the Kurdish-led region to be integrated into the Syrian state. It's an end to 14 tumultuous years of a unique autonomous region in the Middle East. NPR's Jane Arraf has more.
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: The Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration was a high-stakes experiment by forces who broke away from Syrian government rule in 2012. It came to an end on Tuesday at the presidential palace in Damascus, where General Mazloum Abdi announced he was dissolving the region's security forces and administration.
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MAZLOUM ABDI: (Speaking Arabic).
ARRAF: "Circumstances have changed today," Abdi said in Arabic, wearing a dark suit instead of his customary military uniform. Those changes included the toppling of Bashar al-Assad's regime by Turkish-led opposition fighters in late 2024 and President Trump's embrace of new Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a onetime fighter with al-Qaida, the Sunni Arab militant group. Abdi announced the end of the Syrian democratic forces. They were close U.S. allies who helped defeat the militant group ISIS in 2019. Over four years of battle, more than 10,000 Kurdish fighters, men and women, were killed in that fight.
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ABDI: (Speaking Arabic).
ARRAF: "We will carry with us the memory of our martyrs and cherish their sacrifices in our hearts," Abdi said. He said they did not fight for war but for a day when Syrians would no longer need to fight. The region broke away from Assad's control during a nationwide uprising. It aspired to be democratic, secular and gender equal - unheard of in the Middle East. It was surrounded by enemies - the Syrian government backed by Russian forces, Turkey on the other side.
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ARRAF: But a decade of self-rule led to a strengthened Kurdish identity. During an NPR visit to the northeastern town of Qamishli in March, preparations for upcoming Kurdish celebrations were everywhere, even as residents worried what would come next. This year, the new Syrian government forces took back territory from the Kurds. Soon, oil fields that had been under Kurdish control, secured by U.S. forces, were sending oil to Damascus. Sharaa has pledged to give Kurds - the country's biggest ethnic minority - more rights in the new Syria.
Jane Arraf, NPR News, Amman.
(SOUNDBITE OF POST MALONE SONG, "CHEMICAL") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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