The NDF is made of units across various Syrian provinces, each of them consists of local volunteers willing to fight against rebels for various reasons. The NDF has generally positive interaction with the Syrian Democratic Forces. On 20 February 2018, NDF battalions volunteered to support the canton of Afrin against the Turkish-led operation against Afrin. More recently the NDF has been criticized for escalation and aggressiveness with SDF in the cities of Qamishli and across the ANES Al-Hasakah, meditation later ended the skirmishes.