Who are the Kurds?

As part of its plan to unify the country following 14 years of brutal civil war, Syria’s government announced it had reached a ceasefire agreement with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Sunday. Under the agreement, the government will take over land held by the Kurdish armed group.

Despite this, Syria’s army and the SDF both reported ongoing gun battles in the country on Monday, in particular around a prison holding ISIL (ISIS) members in the town of al-Shadadi.
What was agreed on Sunday?
President Ahmed al-Sharaa said the Syrian Army would take control of three eastern and northeastern provinces – Raqqa, Deir Az Zor and Hasakah – from the SDF as part of the deal.

On Monday, an official from Syria’s Defence Ministry said government-affiliated forces had arrived on the outskirts of the Kurdish-led city of Hasakah in the country’s northeast per this agreement.

The SDF is now to be integrated into Syria’s defence and interior ministries as part of a broader 14-point agreement.

Al-Sharaa’s government pledged to reunify Syria following the ousting of former President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. On Friday, al-Sharaa issued a decree declaring Kurdish a “national language” and granting the minority group official recognition.

“What [we] are witnessing now in the region is the end of the SDF,” Omar Abu Layla, a Syrian affairs analyst, told Al Jazeera.

The SDF in Syria represents the struggle of the Kurdish people, an ethnic group present across the Middle East.

Who are the Kurds?
The Kurds are a group of people who are indigenous to the Mesopotamian plains and nearby highlands which, today, stretch across southeastern Turkiye, northeastern Syria, northern Iraq, northwestern Iran and southwestern Armenia. The Kurdish population is concentrated in these areas, which are collectively referred to as Kurdistan.