Syria
A fighter of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stands guard along a road as others deploy to impose a curfew in the town of al-Busayrah in Syria's Deir ez-Zor province on September 4, 2023. Photo: Delil Souleiman/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdish-led forces in eastern Syria continue combing operations against pro-regime Arab fighters in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor province after successfully countering a rebellion following over a week of clashes, a war monitor said on Thursday.
The Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Wednesday declared an end to military operations in Deir ez-Zor against Arab tribes that left at least 90 dead following the capture of their stronghold of Dhiban, on the banks of the Euphrates River where Iran-backed Syrian government forces are located to the west.
“The combing operations continue … in search of the militants who fled from the town of Dhiban,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, adding that tensions have simmered down in the province after 11 days of clashes.
Tensions in Arab-majority Deir ez-Zorp province surged late August after the SDF arrested Ahmed Khbeil, commander of the SDF-linked Deir ez-Zor Military Council better known as Abu Khawla, accusing him of collaborating with the Syrian government, drug trafficking, and failing to curb an increase of Islamic State (ISIS) activities in the area.
The arrest triggered Arab fighters loyal to Khbeil to launch attacks on SDF-held territories in Deir ez-Zor, a province split by the Euphrates River with pro-Iran regime forces in control of the west and US-backed Kurdish forces holding the east.
According to the Observatory, the clashes left 90 dead, including nine civilians, and at least 104 injured.
Following the capture of Dhiban, the SDF organized a meeting of tribesmen from the al-Uqaydat tribe of Ibrahim al-Hafel, who was responsible for the rebellion against the Kurdish-led force.
The SDF “organized a visit of the sheikhs and faces of Dhiban to the guesthouse of Ibrahim al-Hafel, who fled towards the areas of the regime after he had turned the guesthouse into a gathering place for armed intruders,” Farhad Shami, head of the SDF media center, said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
On Wednesday, SDF General Commander Mazloum Abdi said during a televised interview that the tensions in Deir ez-Zor were part of a larger Syrian government scheme to remove the SDF from the province. He said that both Turkish and Syrian media have been exaggerating the situation in the province.
“If the tribes of Deir ez-Zor had been against us, we would not have stayed there,” Abdi said.
According to the SDF, the clashes intensified when pro-government forces from the west of the Euphrates crossed into SDF-held territories to partake in the clashes and deepen unrest in the area.
The SDF has rejected any accusations of disputes with Arab tribes, saying that the clashes are instead against collaborators of the Syrian government and “beneficiaries” of Khbeil, who profited from his alleged drug trafficking and mismanagement.
Security in Kurdish-controlled areas in Syria is managed mainly through military councils led by locals to maintain the delicate balance of the region and prevent Arab discontent.
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