The SDF controls vast areas of Syria's northeast, and parts of Deir Ezzor province in the east, where the Kurds created a
semi-autonomous administration following the withdrawal of government forces during the civil war that began in 2011

The group, which receives US backing, took control of additional territory after capturing it from the jihadists of the Islamic State group.

Ankara accuses the main component of the SDF, the People's Protection Units (YPG) of affiliation with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has fought a decades-long insurgency in southeastern Turkey and is banned as a terrorist organisation by the government.

The Turkish military regularly launches strikes against Kurdish fighters in Syria and neighbouring Iraq, accusing them of being PKK-linked.

Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria's new leader and the head of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) told Al Arabiya TV in late December that local Kurdish-led forces should be integrated into the national army.

HTS led the coalition of rebel groups that overthrew Assad last month.