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Russia Presses SDF to Merge with Syrian Regime Forces

Security forces block an entrance to the village of Humayra, where US coalition forces conducted an overnight airborne operation, in the Ghandoura district in the north of Syria's Aleppo province on June 16, 2022. (AFP)
Security forces block an entrance to the village of Humayra, where US coalition forces conducted an overnight airborne operation, in the Ghandoura district in the north of Syria's Aleppo province on June 16, 2022. (AFP)
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Russia Presses SDF to Merge with Syrian Regime Forces

Security forces block an entrance to the village of Humayra, where US coalition forces conducted an overnight airborne operation, in the Ghandoura district in the north of Syria's Aleppo province on June 16, 2022. (AFP)
Security forces block an entrance to the village of Humayra, where US coalition forces conducted an overnight airborne operation, in the Ghandoura district in the north of Syria's Aleppo province on June 16, 2022. (AFP)

Russia has been pressuring the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to merge with the Syrian regime government forces.

The revelation was made as more military reinforcements continued to be deployed to northern Syria amid Turkey’s threat to carry out a new offensive against the Kurdish SDF.

Commander of the SDF Mazloum Abdi had met with commander of the Russian forces in Syria Alexander Chaiko on June 10 for talks on military affairs, border security and Russia’s suggestion to merge the SDF with the regime forces.

Kurdish sources said Abdi reminded Chaiko that the government forces are deployed in regions held by the SDF under an agreement reached with the Kurdish force and Moscow.

He stressed that the number of forces will remain the same and that they played the role of a buffer between the Turkish army and pro-Ankara Syrian factions.

SDF expressed its readiness to coordinate with and fight alongside the government forces against any Turkish incursion, but there is no need to send additional troops, added Abdi, according to the sources.

He also underscored the need for Syria to use its air defenses against Turkish jets.

Moreover, Abdi urged Russia to bolster its forces in the cities of Manbij and Ain al-Arab (Kobani) in eastern Aleppo.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had threatened to target these areas should his forces carry out a new offensive in Syria.

Russian forces are already deployed in small numbers in these areas.

Abdi said that Russia, as a guarantor of the de-escalation agreements, should prevent any side from exploiting the Turkish threats to make gains on the ground – a reference to government efforts to consolidate its grip over all Syrian territories.

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Syrians Celebrate a Month Since Assad’s Overthrow With Revolutionary Songs in Damascus

People stand before the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of the city of Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
People stand before the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of the city of Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
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Syrians Celebrate a Month Since Assad’s Overthrow With Revolutionary Songs in Damascus

People stand before the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of the city of Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
People stand before the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of the city of Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)

A packed concert hall in Damascus came alive this week with cheers as Wasfi Maasarani, a renowned singer and symbol of the Syrian uprising, performed in celebration of “Syria’s victory."
The concert Wednesday marked Maasarani’s return to Syria after 13 years of exile. While living in Los Angeles, Maasarani had continued to support Syria’s uprising through his music, touring the US and Europe, The Associated Press said.
The concert organized by the Molham Volunteering Team, a humanitarian organization founded by Syrian students, also marked a month since a lightning insurgency toppled former President Bashar Assad.
Revolutionary songs like those by Maasarani and Abdelbasset Sarout — a Syrian singer and activist who died in 2019 — played a key role in rallying Syrians during the nearly 14-year uprising-turned civil war starting in 2011.
Many opponents of Assad's rule, like Maasarani, had fled the country and were unsure if they would ever be able to come back.
In the dimly lit concert hall, the crowd’s phone lights flickered like stars, swaying in unison with the music as the audience sang along, some wiping away tears. The crowd cheered and whistled and many waved the new Syrian flag, the revolutionary flag marked by three stars. A banner held up in the hall read, “It is Syria the Great, not Syria the Assad.”
One of Maasarani's best known songs is “Jabeenak ’Ali w Ma Bintal,” which he first sang in 2012, addressing the Free Syrian Army. It was a coalition of defected Syrian military personnel and civilian fighters formed in 2011 to oppose Assad during the civil war.
“You free soldier, the Syrian eminence appears in his eyes, he refused to fire at his people, he refused the shame of the traitor army, long live you free army, protect my people and the revolutionaries,” the lyrics read.
Another banner in the audience read, “It is the revolution of the people and the people never fail.”
Between performances, Raed Saleh, the head of the civil defense organization known as the White Helmets, addressed the crowd, saying, “With this victory, we should not forget the families who never found their children in the prisons and detention centers.”
Thousands were tortured or disappeared under Assad’s government. After the fall of Assad, the White Helmets helped in the search for the missing.
After the concert, Maasarani told The Associated Press, “It’s like a dream” to return to Syria and perform his revolutionary songs.
“We were always singing them outside of Syria, experiencing the happy and sad moments from afar,” he said, adding that his role was to capture the atrocities on the ground through song, ensuring “they would be remembered in history.” He reflected on his years in exile and recalled surviving two assassination attempts before leaving Syria.
“We have not seen this state without Assad since I was born,” said Alaa Maham, a concert attendee who recently returned from the United Arab Emirates. “I cannot describe my feelings, I hope our happiness lasts.”
The future of Syria is still unclear, as the former insurgent group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, now the de facto ruling party, begins to form a new government and rebuild the country's institutions.
Whatever comes next, Maham said, “We got rid of the oppression and corruption with the fall of Assad and his family’s rule."