diff --git a/Assistant/DaemonStatus.hs b/Assistant/DaemonStatus.hs
index 9be4558761..68edd95c47 100644
--- a/Assistant/DaemonStatus.hs
+++ b/Assistant/DaemonStatus.hs
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ calcSyncRemotes = do
 
 	return $ \dstatus -> dstatus
 		{ syncRemotes = syncable
-		, syncGitRemotes = filter (Remote.gitSyncableRemoteType . Remote.remotetype) syncable
+		, syncGitRemotes = filter Remote.gitSyncableRemote syncable
 		, syncDataRemotes = dataremotes
 		, exportRemotes = exportremotes
 		, downloadRemotes = contentremotes
diff --git a/Command/Sync.hs b/Command/Sync.hs
index 96742257ac..62b557ccc7 100644
--- a/Command/Sync.hs
+++ b/Command/Sync.hs
@@ -267,8 +267,8 @@ seek' o = startConcurrency transferStages $ do
 
 	remotes <- syncRemotes (syncWith o)
 	warnSyncContentTransition o remotes
-	-- Remotes that are git repositories, not (necessarily) special remotes.
-	let gitremotes = filter (Remote.gitSyncableRemoteType . Remote.remotetype) remotes
+	-- Remotes that git can push to and pull from.
+	let gitremotes = filter Remote.gitSyncableRemote remotes
 	-- Remotes that contain annex object content.
 	contentremotes <- filter (\r -> Remote.uuid r /= NoUUID)
 		<$> filterM (not <$$> liftIO . getDynamicConfig . remoteAnnexIgnore . Remote.gitconfig) remotes
diff --git a/Remote.hs b/Remote.hs
index dbbca32a5e..501f010b2e 100644
--- a/Remote.hs
+++ b/Remote.hs
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ module Remote (
 	remoteTypes,
 	remoteList,
 	remoteList',
-	gitSyncableRemoteType,
 	remoteMap,
 	remoteMap',
 	uuidDescriptions,
@@ -61,6 +60,8 @@ module Remote (
 	claimingUrl,
 	claimingUrl',
 	isExportSupported,
+	gitSyncableRemote,
+	gitSyncableRemoteType,
 ) where
 
 import Data.Ord
@@ -445,3 +446,12 @@ claimingUrl' remotefilter url = do
 	fromMaybe web <$> firstM checkclaim (filter remotefilter rs)
   where
 	checkclaim = maybe (pure False) (`id` url) . claimUrl
+
+{- Is this a remote of a type we can sync with, or a special remote
+ - with an annex:: url configured? -}
+gitSyncableRemote :: Remote -> Bool
+gitSyncableRemote r
+	| gitSyncableRemoteType (remotetype r) = True
+	| otherwise = case remoteUrl (gitconfig r) of
+		Just u | "annex::" `isPrefixOf` u -> True
+		_ -> False
diff --git a/Remote/List.hs b/Remote/List.hs
index e884a25a3b..e25d09b957 100644
--- a/Remote/List.hs
+++ b/Remote/List.hs
@@ -109,7 +109,11 @@ updateRemote remote = do
 			Remote.Git.configRead False r
 		| otherwise = return r
 
-{- Checks if a remote is syncable using git. -}
+{- Types of remotes that are always syncable using git.
+ -
+ - This does not include special remotes that may or may not have an
+ - annex:: url that allows using git-remote-annex with them.
+ -}
 gitSyncableRemoteType :: RemoteType -> Bool
 gitSyncableRemoteType t = t `elem`
 	[ Remote.Git.remote
diff --git a/Types/GitConfig.hs b/Types/GitConfig.hs
index 3ba46eb5c1..e1090a1121 100644
--- a/Types/GitConfig.hs
+++ b/Types/GitConfig.hs
@@ -374,6 +374,7 @@ data RemoteGitConfig = RemoteGitConfig
 	, remoteAnnexAllowUnverifiedDownloads :: Bool
 	, remoteAnnexConfigUUID :: Maybe UUID
 	, remoteAnnexAllowEncryptedGitRepo :: Bool
+	, remoteUrl :: Maybe String
 
 	{- These settings are specific to particular types of remotes
 	 - including special remotes. -}
@@ -480,6 +481,12 @@ extractRemoteGitConfig r remotename = do
 		, remoteAnnexExternalType = notempty $ getmaybe "externaltype"
 		, remoteAnnexAllowEncryptedGitRepo = 
 			getbool "allow-encrypted-gitrepo" False
+		, remoteUrl = 
+			case Git.Config.getMaybe (remoteConfig remotename "url") r of
+				Just (ConfigValue b)
+					| B.null b -> Nothing
+					| otherwise -> Just (decodeBS b)
+				_ -> Nothing
 		}
   where
 	getbool k d = fromMaybe d $ getmaybebool k
diff --git a/doc/todo/git-remote-annex.mdwn b/doc/todo/git-remote-annex.mdwn
index 96959773be..d4c77a7974 100644
--- a/doc/todo/git-remote-annex.mdwn
+++ b/doc/todo/git-remote-annex.mdwn
@@ -10,8 +10,6 @@ will be available to users who don't use datalad.
 
 This is implememented and working. Remaining todo list for it:
 
-* git-annex sync doesn't pull/push to these remotes, and should.
-
 * Cloning from an annex:: url with importtree=yes doesn't work
   (with or without exporttree=yes). This is because the ContentIdentifier
   db is not populated. It should be possible to work around this.