Syrian government forces this week moved into cities in the northeast of the country as part of a deal that followed a swift rout of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in January. So it is not clear how much will survive of the experiment in grassroots democracy pioneered in the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, known as Rojava. When the regime of Bashar al-Assad withdrew from Kurdish-majority areas at the start of Syria’s civil war in 2012, Kurdish forces took control. Despite the conditions of civil war, Rojava’s democratic model endured but it didn’t flourish everywhere. The SDF accepted the latest deal after it became clear that they could not resist the advance of Syrian government forces.

Source: The Irish Times February 04, 2026 14:19 UTC