Between the PYD and the Islamic State: The Complex Role of Non-state Actors in Syria

Abstract

The popular uprising in Syria against the Assad regime started as a popular, cross-sectarian, leaderless, and non-violent movement for freedom and dignity. As time went on, domestic and regional dynamics provoked the gradual militarization of the conflict, turning the non-violent movement into a civil war and finally into a regional/international proxy war. Syria became divided into spheres of influence dominated by warlords and militias, among which two non-state actors acquired substantial prominence and challenged their non-state nature by establishing some form of authority in the areas they managed to control: one is the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), with its armed wing, the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the other is the now formally extinct self-declared Islamic State/Islamic Caliphate (Daesh). The aim of this chapter is to compare how, despite their differences, both non-state militant actors played a prominent role in creating State-like entities, competing among them and increasing the complexity of the conflict.