The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have been dissolved, the armed paramilitary group's leader said on Tuesday, a major step in the integration plan agreed on earlier this year with the government in Damascus.
"We announce today the end of the mission of the Syrian Democratic Forces and announce with full responsibility its dissolution as an independent military force," SDF commander Mazloum Abdi said in a televised speech.
The government and the group, which helped defeat the Islamic State with US backing and held parts of northern and eastern Syria, agreed in January to a phased integration of Kurdish fighters into the state, a plan Washington called a "historic milestone."
The deal came shortly after government forces under President Ahmed al-Sharaa launched a lightning offensive in January, taking swathes of the areas the SDF held.
Abdi said that the announcement followed an agreement with Sharaa after the integration of the group's forces into the army.
Parts of SDF already integrated into Syrian army
The Kurdish People's Protection Units, which formed the core of the SDF, had already been integrated into state forces, with its commander, Sipan Hamo, appointed deputy defense minister for the country's eastern territories in March.
The SDF dissolution comes as the new leaders in Damascus seek to resolve internal strife and rebuild Syria, with support from Washington, after nearly 14 years of civil war and decades of isolation under former President Bashar al-Assad's rule.