COI Query - Syria: Developments concerning military service, the situation of Kurds, and the security situation in areas (formerly) controlled by Kurdish-led forces

Country: Syrian Arab Republic Source: European Union Agency for Asylum Please refer to the attached file. COI QUERY RESPONSE – Syria Developments concerning military service, the situation of Kurds, and the security situation in areas (formerly) controlled by Kurdish-led forces 1. Military service and recruitment by Kurdish-led forces The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), formed in 2015, are a paramilitary group, predominantly made up of Kurds. 1 The group controlled most of northeastern Syria during the Syrian civil war, 2 although by February 2026, the SDF’s control was limited to areas around the cities of Qamishli, Hasaka and the town of Kobane on Syria’s border with Turkey. 3 Sources indicated that the SDF retained between 70 0004 and 100 000 soldiers, 5 although a considerable portion of their military force had defected, specifically Arab fighters, following the Syrian government’s military advances on 17–18 January 2026. 6 As of June 2024, the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), the Kurdish-led government entity in which the SDF serves as the main military force, 7 announced that individuals born between 1998 and 30 June 2006 are required to perform ‘self-defense duty’ in the region, adding that those turning 18 must report to selfdefense centres to obtain a duty card.8 Further information on SDF compulsory military service could not be found among the sources consulted by EUAA within the time constraints of this query. On recruitment methods, sources indicated that the SDF were carrying out forced conscriptions, as of October 2025.9 An October 2025 article by The New Arab, citing a local news source affirmed that the SDF ‘have launched a widespread conscription campaign targeting young men, in what is believed to be a preparation for confrontation with Syrian government forces’.10 The same source added that the SDF were targeting young people born between 1999 and 2007.11 An October 2025 article by the independent local news source Enab Baladi reported that the SDF had ‘intensified compulsory recruitment campaigns under what they call the “duty of self-defense,”’ in Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, and Hasaka provinces in northeastern Syria. 12 The source further noted that at the end of September, the SDF Military Police detained more than 500 people in Raqqa alone. 13 A January 2026 Al Jazeera article, quoting a local resident from Deir ez-Zor following the government forces’ takeover of the area, reported that many feared repression by the SDF, as well as the prospect of forced conscription.14

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