The relations between the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and the Syrian government concern the military and political relationship between the de facto autonomous multi-ethnic region in northern and eastern Syria and the central Syrian government. Relations first existed in the context of the Syrian civil war and the Rojava conflict, as Kurdish Syrians and other ethnic minorities established the DAANES as a semi-autonomous region within Syria, then controlled by the Ba'athist regime and President Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian Ba'athist government did not officially recognise the autonomy of the DAANES, and advocated a centralist approach to the governance of Syria. The DAANES sought the federalization of Syria, but not full independence. The Assad regime had no authority or institutions in the DAANES outside of its two security boxes in Qamishli and Al-Hasakah. The DAANES did not allow the Syrian Government to hold elections in areas under its control, instead holding its own elections. For much of the period between 2015 and 2024, an informal non-aggression pact existed between the Syrian Armed Forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), with occasional confrontations continuing. The two forces cooperated against Islamist groups, including the Islamic State, as well as against the Turkish Armed Forces and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army following its intervention into the country. The two sides co-operated militarily under Russian supervision between 2019 and 2024, with Syrian and Russian troops stationed along the Turkish occupation zone to prevent further advances.

The DAANES and SDF participated in the 2024 Syrian opposition offensives, at times fighting against opposition forces and the Syrian government. Following the fall of the Assad regime, the DAANES established relations with the transitional government headed by President Ahmed al-Sharaa. In March 2025, it was agreed that the DAANES recognized the new government and would begin to transition its military and political institutions into the government.

On September 6, 2012 Kurdish activists reported that 21 civilians were killed in the Kurdish neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsud in Aleppo, when the Syrian Army shelled the local mosque and its surroundings. Despite the district being neutral during the Battle of Aleppo and free of government and FSA clashes, local residents believed that the district was shelled as retaliation for sheltering anti-government civilians from other parts of the city. In a statement released shortly after the deaths, the Kurdish People's Defense Units (YPG) vowed to retaliate. A few days later, Kurdish forces killed three soldiers in Afrin (Kurdish: Efrîn) and captured a number of other government soldiers in Kobani and Al-Malikiyah (Kurdish: Dêrika Hemko), from where they drove the remaining government security forces out. It was also reported that the government had begun to arm Arab tribes around Qamishli in preparation for a possible confrontation with Kurdish forces, who still did not completely control the city.

At least eight government soldiers were killed and 15 wounded by a car bomb in the al-Gharibi district of Qamishli on 30 September 2012. The explosion targeted the Army's Political Security branch.

The YPG claimed to have killed 376 Syrian government soldiers and captured 790 in 2013.

On 2 January 2013, a bomb was detonated by unknown assailants in front of a Syrian government security office in Qamishli, wounding four members of the local security forces.

In mid-January, as clashes re-erupted between rebels and Kurdish separatists in Ras al-Ayn, YPG forces moved to expel government forces from oil-rich areas in Hasakah Province. Clashes broke out from 14 to 19 January between the army and YPG fighters in the Kurdish village of Gir Zîro (Tall Adas), near al-Maabadah (Kurdish: Girkê Legê), where an army battalion of around 200 soldiers had been blockaded since 9 January. YPG forces claimed to have expelled government after the clashes. One soldier was reportedly killed and another eight injured, while seven were captured (later released) and 27 defected. Fighting at the oil field near Gir Zîro ended on 21 January, when government forces withdrew after receiving no assistance from Damascus. In Rumeilan, directly west of al-Maabadah, another 200 soldiers had been surrounded by YPG forces, and 10 soldiers were reported to have defected.

From 8 to 11 February, heavy clashes broke out between the YPG and government troops in the PYD/YPG-held district Ashrafiyah where, according to SOHR, at least 3 soldiers and 5 pro-government militiamen were killed. The fighting followed deadly shelling on 31 January on Ashrafiyah, in which 23 civilians were killed after FSA units moved into the Kurdish sector of Aleppo. According to its own reports, the YPG lost 7 of its members the fighting, while also claiming that 48 soldiers were killed and 22 captured, and a further 70 injured.