The clashes that broke out about ten days ago between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition dominated by the Kurds and supported by the United States, and a local militia in the province of Deir Ezzoer, in northeastern Syria, worry Washington, which It has 900 soldiers deployed there and fears fissures in the coalition that has kept the defeated Islamic State (IS) under control for years.
The clashes have left at least 90 dead in about ten days, most of them combatants, in this strategic region, according to a report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH). The trigger was the August 27 arrest by the SDF of Ahmad al Jabil, head of the Deir Ezzor Military Council, a local armed Arab group that is affiliated with Kurdish forces.
The detained leader was charged with criminal activity, corruption and opening contacts with the Damascus government and Iranian-backed militias. Al Jabil supporters responded with attacks and were joined by Arab tribesmen. According to the Kurds, there are also fighters loyal to the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, who crossed the river.
A US-backed, Kurdish-led administration has ruled parts of northern Syria and most of Syria east of the Euphrates River, including key oil fields, with government forces and Iranian-backed militias positioned just across from it. the western shore. The SDF led the offensive that defeated IS in Syria in 2019.
Kurdish leaders accuse Tehran-backed militias and the Syrian government of fomenting violence. “Iran and the Assad regime want to represent this unrest as the result of an ethnic conflict between Arabs and Kurds,” wrote in X, Elham Ahmad, leader of the Syrian Democratic Council, the political wing of the SDF. Their ultimate goal, according to the leader, is to force American troops to withdraw.
But some warn that the violence reflects local Arab unrest. Arabs in the region serve in roles in both the SDF and the administration, but have long resented Kurdish control. “This is an unprecedented escalation between the FSD and the residents of Deir Ezzor,” says Omar Abu Layla, a Europe-based activist who runs the Deir Ezzor 24 outlet, which specializes in the region. “It is an indication of the bad policy implemented by the FSD and the miscalculations of the Americans,” Abu Layla concluded.
The US military has called for an end to the fighting, warning that if “distractions (from fighting IS) create instability and increase the risk of a Daesh resurgence.” from the SDF, tribal leaders and US officials, including the commander overseeing US military operations against IS, according to the US Embassy.
Kurdish-dominated forces announced this Wednesday “the end of military operations” in eastern Syria, after taking control of Diban. They claimed that the armed men who had taken up positions in the village fled “to areas under the control of the (Syrian) regime from which they had previously come.” “The operation to clear the city of Diban of armed groups has reached its final phase. The SDF has begun to comb the neighborhoods and houses in search of hidden fighters,” reported SDF spokesman Farhad Shami.
The commander-in-chief of the Kurdish forces, Mazloum Abdi, told a local news agency that the US-led coalition helped with air support during the offensive, but the US military would not confirm or deny the information when contacted by PA.
There are several actors interested in generating chaos in a region considered a “tinderbox”, according to Aron Lund, of the Century International think tank, told France-Presse. But the biggest opposition does not come from within, as Syrian state media claimed these days. “If all the Arab tribes had really agreed to go against the SDF, then the SDF would not still be in Deir Ezzor,” Aby Layla told the French agency. To the aforementioned countries, Turkey is added, which has launched successive incursions into northern Syria against Kurdish forces.
