YPJ says Damascus agreed to place 800 female fighters in Interior Ministry battalions

The Women's Protection Units (YPJ), the all-female Kurdish fighting force of north-east Syria, said on Thursday, 12 November, that Syria's interim government had agreed to place 800 female fighters in two special battalions under the Interior Ministry. YPJ spokesperson Ruksen Mohamed announced the arrangement, according to Voice of America (VOA).

Damascus has not confirmed it. VOA reported that it had contacted the Syrian government for comment and had not received a response. Only limited details have been made public, and earlier accounts differ on where the battalions would serve. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on 6 November a preliminary understanding under which one battalion would cover Aleppo province, including Kobani and Afrin, and the other Hasakah. Presidential adviser Mazloum Abdi, the former SDF commander, said on 9 November that the government had agreed to accept the YPJ as two special counterterrorism forces in the Jazira and Kobani regions. No account sets out their command or implementation. The YPJ also said it had submitted names for nearly 1,500 additional personnel. It said Syrian authorities had not responded about their status.

What is claimed and what is not known

The announcement rests on one party's account. The YPJ supplied the figure of 800 and the structure of two battalions. The Interior Ministry is the body that runs Syria's police and internal security forces. The arrangement as announced covers only those 800 fighters. It does not say what happens to the larger group whose names the YPJ submitted.

The Interior Ministry is not new to the northeast. Under the 30 January ceasefire and integration deal between Damascus and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), three SDF brigades were to join a new Defence Ministry division. Fighters were to join as individuals, not as intact units. Interior Ministry forces then entered Hasakah on 2 February and Qamishli on 3 February.

A Syrian Army offensive in mid-January had already stripped the SDF of oilfields and territory. Crisis.Zone assessed at the time that this weakened the SDF's negotiating position. The YPJ was a major component of the SDF, which announced its dissolution in late August. While former SDF military units went to the Defence Ministry, the YPJ has negotiated with the Interior Ministry since August, after Damascus rejected its bid to join the army, which has no women in its ranks. The announcement does fit a wider pattern of Damascus absorbing Kurdish-led forces into state structures.

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What would settle the account

Three things would show whether the announcement describes a working arrangement. The first is an official statement from Damascus, confirming or disputing the YPJ's account. The second is publication of the terms, including who commands the two battalions and where they would serve. The third is any reply to the names the YPJ says it submitted for nearly 1,500 further personnel.

Until then, the announcement is the YPJ's description of an agreement, which VOA reported after YPJ spokesperson Ruksen Mohamed said on Thursday that the interim Syrian government had agreed to integrate 800 fighters into two special battalions under the Ministry of Interior. It is not a confirmed or completed integration. The YPJ says its fighters have a place in the state's security structure. Damascus has not yet said so. Which ministry commands them, and whether they stay together, will say more about the balance between Damascus and the Kurdish-led forces than the number 800.