Integration of armed factions remains one of Syria’s biggest challenges

When Syria’s civilian struggle ended successful December 2024 with the autumn of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, hundreds of thousands of citizens were inactive bearing arms. Throughout the astir 14 years of war, equipped factions proliferated: from the wide spectrum of equipped absorption factions successful the northwest and the regime’s array of subject and militia forces successful cardinal and occidental Syria, to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) successful the northeast and a analyzable web of militias passim the south, and not to hide the likes of ISIS and al-Qaeda.

In this context, the task of demilitarising nine and reunifying the state has posed a genuinely formidable situation for Syria’s transitional authority. Indeed, the process of disarming, demobilising, and reintegrating equipped groups portion simultaneously establishing caller equipped forces and a reformed information assemblage stands astatine the halfway of Syria’s transitional authorities gathering project. Days of dense struggle betwixt authorities forces and the SDF successful Aleppo this past week highlighted the consequences of a nonaccomplishment to resoluteness the integration challenge.

As a archetypal measurement successful December 2024, the al-Assad regime’s equipped forces were swiftly dissolved and a process of presumption colony was initiated, whereby each erstwhile soldiers – some officers and conscripts – could registry utilizing their nationalist ID and use for merchandise to civilian beingness oregon to re-enlist successful the caller army.

Thousands of men chose to undertake this colony process crossed the country, to wide their names and commencement beingness anew. But thousands of others abstained, particularly successful the coastal region, wherever the Alawite number dominates. While galore of those who avoided the process melted backmost into agrarian communities, hundreds ended up forming anti-government factions that conducted low-level attacks connected authorities forces, culminating successful a immense coordinated run connected March 6 that killed much than 100 authorities unit – triggering a chaotic and brutal week of unit that near much than 1,000 radical dead.

In the months since, respective 1000 erstwhile authorities unit person undergone grooming and joined Syria’s caller information forces crossed the country. Nevertheless, the warring persists, owed successful portion to fiscal enactment from salient al-Assad authorities figures present successful exile successful neighbouring Lebanon, arsenic good arsenic successful Russia.

That continues to undermine Syria’s quality to heal ties with Lebanon and Russia, but besides complicates the geopolitical lasting of specified countries among the wider region, which has stood squarely down the caller authorities successful Damascus successful the anticipation of transforming Syria into a basal of stableness and prosperity.

Meanwhile, Syria’s transitional authorities is besides seeking to rebuild the Ministry of Defence (MOD) with an army, navy and aerial unit and the Ministry of Interior (MOI) with provincial nationalist information directorates, and dedicated “counterterrorism”, counternarcotics and cyber forces.

In this transitional phase, the MOD has emerged arsenic the umbrella nether which the wide spectrum of absorption equipped factions person been folded. While each erstwhile absorption groups person technically dissolved, immoderate stay mostly successful form, constituting the army’s astir 20 divisions. Those factions with longstanding ties to Turkiye – peculiarly from the bluish Aleppo-based Syrian National Army (SNA) – look to person benefitted from greater levels of subject enactment and arms supplies than others antecedently based successful Idlib. Some person leaders with arguable pasts, including outstanding planetary sanctions designations for convulsive crimes and corruption.

In the earlier phases of Syria’s transition, the MOD was the unit tasked with responding to information challenges and with securing territory done checkpoints and section deployments. This was not an effectual “post-war” attack to security, and the ministry’s superior shortcomings successful presumption of discipline, cohesion and bid and power gave mode to grievous errors of judgement and restraint – astir notoriously connected the seashore successful March 2025, but besides successful Suwayda successful July, erstwhile MOD forces intervened successful bloody clashes betwixt section Druze and Bedouin communities.

Through the 2nd fractional of 2025, the MOD took a backmost spot erstwhile it came to home information and was replaced by the MOI, whose nationalist information forces person assumed work for section information crossed the country.

Unlike the MOD’s divisions, the MOI’s forces are dominated by recently recruited men from crossed the country. While the MOI’s specializer units stay dominated by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) personnel, the comparative deficiency of erstwhile factional affiliations successful the broader nationalist information forces has led to important improvements successful immoderate of the astir challenging environments.

In fact, Syria’s coastal portion has transformed from being the astir consistently unsafe and deadly portion of the state successful the archetypal fractional of 2025 to the astir unchangeable and slightest convulsive portion astatine the extremity of the twelvemonth – adjacent with a low-level rebellion continuing. That is astir wholly owed to the MOI’s presumption of information responsibility, and a months-long effort to prosecute and physique spot with section communities.

The astir strategically important situation Syria’s modulation faces contiguous is from its unresolved territorial issues successful the northeast with the Kurdish-dominated SDF and successful the confederate Druze-majority governorate of Suwayda. In some regions, equipped groups are presenting themselves arsenic alternatives to Damascus’s regularisation – and some are resulting successful persistent tensions and conflict.

While the United States authorities has worked intensively to facilitate and mediate talks to execute the SDF’s integration into Syria, those negotiations person yet to carnivore fruit. With aggregate deadlines for specified a woody present passed, tensions person been sky-high for weeks.

An SDF drone attack connected a checkpoint manned by authorities forces successful eastbound agrarian Aleppo precocious connected January 5 triggered a spiral of hostilities that ended successful the expulsion of SDF-linked militia from northwestern districts of Aleppo metropolis by January 10. This latest bout of warring has dealt a stroke to integration talks, but besides highlighted the consequences of their failure. The precise existent imaginable of hostilities present spreading to beforehand lines successful eastbound Aleppo could termination the talks altogether.

In Suwayda, a tense standoff remains aft the unit successful July that killed much than 1,400 people. Druze militias person agreed nether a “National Guard” that is receiving enactment from Israel. The ascendant relation played by erstwhile al-Assad authorities officers wrong this formation’s enactment has driven a much than 400 percent emergence successful cause trafficking towards Jordan, according to information collected by the Syria Weekly media outlet – triggering Jordanian aerial strikes successful precocious December.

Persistent reports of inter-factional unit wrong the National Guard and expanding numbers of extrajudicial attacks connected Druze figures consenting to criticise Suwayda’s caller de facto authorities suggest the presumption quo does not connection stability.

It is successful Suwayda wherever geopolitics person proven to beryllium astir acute – with Israel’s backing of Druze authorities presenting a nonstop situation not conscionable to Syria’s transition, but to Jordanian security, to determination enactment for Damascus, and to the tendency of US President Donald Trump’s medication to spot Syria’s caller authorities presume nationwide control.

The de facto Druze person successful Suwayda, Hikmat al-Hijri, is besides successful regular interaction with SDF leaders successful northeast Syria, with some sides appearing astatine times to beryllium coordinating their positions vis-a-vis Damascus. Alawite figures connected the coast, meanwhile, including protestation person Ghazal Ghazal, person besides been successful connection with some the SDF and al-Hijri successful an effort to unite down a governmental imaginativeness that stands successful absorption to Damascus.

Ultimately, Syria’s process of resolving the challenges of equipped factions is intrinsically governmental and tied some to the civilian warfare and to the tensions and challenges that person emerged retired of the modulation itself. The information that a immense bulk of the planetary assemblage has agreed successful enactment of Syria’s transitional authorities has helped to supply the clip and abstraction for dissolving and integrating equipped factions and fighters crossed the country. However, arsenic agelong arsenic geopolitical challenges to the modulation remain, the process of integration volition stay incomplete and proceed to beryllium a root of instability.

The views expressed successful this nonfiction are the author’s ain and bash not needfully bespeak Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.