Deadly clashes between Arab tribes and the YPG, the U.S.-backed offshoot of the PKK terrorist group, flared again on Sunday across several places in eastern Syria’s Deir el-Zour province.
PKK/YPG terrorists supported by the U.S. detained many local residents in the eastern countryside of Deir el-Zour on Saturday, according to information from local sources.
Arab tribes in turn targeted the local headquarters of the terrorist organization in the villages of Dhiban, Shuheyl, al-Jurthi and Abu Hardoub in the east with heavy weapons after midnight.
The clashes spread to the villages of Al-Shakikah and Abu Hamam in the southeast of the province in the morning hours.
While many terrorists surrendered to Arab tribesmen with their weapons in the village of Abu Hardoub, the Arabs shot down a drone in al-Jurthi.
In a mortar attack carried out by the PKK/YPG terrorists on Abu Hardoub, four civilians were killed and three others were injured.
Arab tribes carried out two operations against the terror 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.
In the villages of Direnc, al-Gharanij, Abu Nteyl, Al-Sur, Havayic, Suheyl and Aa-Jasmi, where clashes took place, vehicles belonging to the terrorist organization and their headquarters were targeted with heavy weapons.
After the withdrawal of Daesh in November 2017, Deir el-Zour and its western parts came under the control of the Syrian regime with the support of Iran-backed groups and Russia.
Iran-backed foreign terrorist groups have a significant presence in Deir el-Zour, becoming a formidable ground force for the Syrian regime.
Members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps command groups of fighters of Iranian, Iraqi, Lebanese, Afghan and Pakistani origin in Deir el-Zour, which is home to Sunni Arab communities.
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 the 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 clashes with the PKK/YPG, which seeks to establish a terror corridor along the country’s border.
Since 2016, Türkiye has carried out successive ground operations – Euphrates Shield in 2016, Olive Branch in 2018 and Peace Spring in 2019 – to expel the PKK/YPG and Daesh forces from border areas of northern Syria, as well as Iraq and to enable the peaceful settlement of residents.
Ankara has also repeatedly called on its NATO ally to cut off support to the PKK/YPG, something heavily weighing on bilateral relations.
