Deadly clashes between Arab tribes and the YPG, the U.S.-backed offshoot of the PKK terrorist group, flared again early on Tuesday across seven districts in eastern Syria's Deir el-Zour province, barely days into the new year.
Arab tribes targeted checkpoints, local headquarters and vehicles used by the PKK/YPG terrorists in the villages of Suheyl, al-Khubur, Dhiban, al-Jurthi, Havayic, Sican and Buseyra, local sources reported.
The tribes and YPG terrorists have clashed sporadically since late summer last year.
Arab tribes carried out two operations against the terrorist group on Aug. 27 and Sept. 25 and were able to clear about 33 villages of terrorists in the provinces of Deir el-Zour, Raqqa and Hassakeh and areas in Manbij and Aleppo.
The tribal forces, however, later withdrew from the villages to prevent civilian casualties from YPG/PKK attacks and agreed to negotiate with U.S. forces, who served as mediators in the region.
On Oct. 11, however, after Ibrahim al-Hafil, the leader of the Akidat tribe who is leading the Arab tribes' uprising against the PKK/YPG terrorists, expressed their readiness for a new uprising, clashes broke out for a short period.
After the withdrawal of Daesh in November 2017, Deir el-Zour and its western parts, home to Sunni Arab communities, came under the control of the Syrian regime with the support of Iran-backed groups and Russia.
The Syrian regime of Bashar Assad in Damascus sees the PKK/YPG forces as secessionist fighters. It has denounced its alliance with the U.S. in the war against Daesh and its self-ruled enclave in eastern Syria.
Taking advantage of the power vacuum created by the Syrian civil war since 2011, the PKK/YPG invaded several Syrian provinces, including Deir el-Zour, with the help of Washington. The terrorists forced many locals to migrate, bringing their militants to change the regional demographic.
Since 2015, the PKK/YPG has occupied Deir el-Zour, which is a resource-rich region bordering Iraq, bisected by the Euphrates River and home to dozens of tribal communities. The terrorists have been forcibly recruiting the children of these communities. It has also seized the region's oil wells – Syria's largest – and smuggles oil to the Syrian regime despite U.S. sanctions to generate revenue for its activities.
The PKK/YPG has accused the Syrian regime of inciting violence by allowing the rival Arab fighters to cross the Euphrates River. Local tribes have been fighting against the PKK/YPG's oppressive policies, including arbitrary arrests and kidnappings since the occupation. The terrorists have assassinated tribe leaders to yoke local groups over the years.
Meanwhile, Türkiye, which has troops inside Syria and Turkish-backed opposition groups in Syria's northwest, routinely conducts operations against PKK/YPG terrorists, which seeks to establish a terror corridor along the country's border.
Ankara has also repeatedly called on its NATO ally to cut off support to the PKK/YPG, something heavily weighing on bilateral relations.
