Deir el-Zour, an oil-rich province in Syria’s northeast, faces fresh turmoil amid the ongoing civil war in the country. Clashes, an expected culmination of tensions between the local Arab population and the PKK terrorist group's Syrian wing, the YPG, which seeks a foothold in the region, escalated in the past week. The United States, the main ally of the terrorist group, says it wants to resolve the conflict, which reportedly killed more than 150 people over the past two months.
U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Syria Ethan Goldrich and Maj. Gen. Joel B Vowell, who heads the coalition forces against Daesh, met Arab tribal leaders and “SDF commanders” and agreed to “address local grievances” and “de-escalate violence as soon as possible and avoid casualties,” the State Department said. The SDF, or Syrian Democratic Forces, is an umbrella group seemingly representing local ethnic communities, but it is dominated by PKK/YPG, which uses the SDF as an instrument to gain legitimacy in the territories it occupies in Syria.
Turkish media outlets described the visit of U.S. officials as a “scandalous step” in “dirty cooperation” between the United States and the PKK/YPG. The U.S. is among the countries recognizing the PKK as a terrorist group and is a close ally of Türkiye in NATO. Yet, it turned to the YPG, which as a PKK wing has claimed thousands of lives in decades of terrorism and targeted Türkiye in its fight against Daesh in Syria. Under the pretext of the fight against Daesh, Washington supplied military equipment and training for terrorists, to the chagrin of Ankara. Ankara repeatedly called on the U.S. to cut off ties with PKK/YPG, to no avail. Türkiye is concerned over the security threat posed by the terrorist group, which grabbed land just across the Turkish-Syrian border. The group is known for sending members to infiltrate Türkiye to carry out terrorist attacks and occasionally carry out cross-border rocket attacks targeting Turkish towns on the other side of the border. It is also known that the terrorist group transports members between Syria and Iraq through the two countries’ land border. The terrorist group’s senior cadres hide out in mountainous territories in northern Iraq, also close to the Turkish border.
Tensions arose in the region after the terrorist group “arrested” Rashid al-Khawla, formerly an ally of the SDF and leader of a council dominated by Arab tribes. The unrest soon swept through a string of towns from Busayrah to Shuhail, in a strategic oil belt in the heart of Arab tribal territory east of the Euphrates River. Arab tribal fighters initially drove out the PKK/YPG from several large towns, but the terrorist group has begun to regain the upper hand.
Arab tribal leaders say they have been deprived of their oil wealth after the PKK/YPG laid its hands on Syria’s biggest oil wells after the departure of Daesh. They also complain their areas are neglected in favor of areas where the PKK/YPG draws recruits.
“We want them out of all of Deir el-Zour; we want the administration of the area in the hands of the original Arab inhabitants,” said Sheikh Mahmoud al-Jarallah, a tribal leader.
An estimated 3 million people live in areas controlled by the PKK/YPG in Syria. The terrorist group, which advocates for independent Kurdish entities, recruits members from the Syrian Kurdish population but has limited support among Syrian Kurds. Ethnic Arabs make up most of the population in areas controlled by the terrorists.
Although not as strong without U.S. support, the PKK/YPG managed to cultivate a “democratic” image in northeastern Syria by including local elements that appeared unaligned with the ideology of the terrorists. Though they aligned amid the ongoing civil war in the country, the Military Council has been a main rival of the PKK/YPG.
Several media reports have claimed that the United States (which angered its ally Türkiye with its constant support to the terrorist group) was considering a new alliance with the Military Council instead of the PKK/YPG.
Two civilians were killed and 13 others injured in an attack by the terrorist group, according to local sources on Sunday. YPG/PKK terrorists attacked the town of Hajin, south of Deir el-Zour, with heavy weapons that were cleared of terrorists by Arab tribes, the sources said. A child was among the victims, while seven other children were injured in the attack. The attack came as Arab tribes managed to reclaim 33 villages from the YPG/PKK terrorists since Aug. 27. On Saturday, Arab tribesmen cleared four villages from YPG/PKK terrorists in rural Manbij. Clashes are underway in rural areas of Manbij, as well as districts of Deir el-Zour, Raqqa and Hassakeh.
In the meantime, Türkiye continues its counterterrorism operations in the area against the PKK/YPG.
Turkish security forces “neutralized” six terrorists in northern Syria near the Turkish border, the National Defense Ministry said Monday.
The terrorists were preparing an attack on the Operation Peace Spring zone in northwestern Syria, the ministry said on X, formerly known as Twitter. The zone covers an area near the location of recent clashes between Arab tribes and terrorists. Turkish authorities use the term “neutralize” to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured. Since 2016, Ankara has launched a trio of successful anti-terror operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018) and Peace Spring (2019).
In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the U.S. and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
Also, on Monday, a civilian was killed and two others were injured when the terrorist group opened fire in a village south of Tal Abyad in the Peace Spring zone.
