'Among the thousands of fighters from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) streaming into Syria’s eastern province of Deir Ezzor to put down an uprising by Arab tribes are female fighters from the Women's Protection Units (YPJ).
“It’s a big insult,” Hifl Abboud Jadden al-Hifl, a tribal elder whose nephew, Ibrahim al-Hifl, is on an SDF wanted list as the public face of the fight to oust the Kurdish-led alliance from the oil-rich region.
“They put them in our hometown just to send a message that our women will get you,” he said.
The comments are a sharp reflection of the acrimony brewing between two US allies in a forgotten corner of Syria: the SDF and Sunni Arab tribes that fought together with the US-led coalition to remove the Islamic State militant (ISIS) group from the region.
Now long-standing complaints about corruption and political disenfranchisement at the hands of the SDF have erupted into violence that is destabilising the US-controlled part of Syria.
“Anyone who was watching the deteriorating situation in Deir Ezzor wouldn’t have been surprised by this,” said Robert Ford, a former US ambassador to Syria.
“Arab grievances against the SDF go back years. Instead of the US addressing those concerns and moving Kurds out of Deir Ezzor and bringing in local Arab leaders, it sat on its hands,” he added.
The fighting broke out on 27 August when the SDF detained Ahmad al-Khabil, better known as Abu Khawla, the controversial head of the Deir Ezzor military council, amid suspicion he was conspiring to oust the SDF from the region.
But analysts and tribal leaders say that the fighting in Deir Ezzor speaks to wider grievances of the region’s Sunni Arab majority against Kurdish rule.
“The people of Deir Ezzor are suffering. Corruption is everywhere," said Mahmoud Meslat, a Syria expert at Oberlin College who hails from a prominent Arab family in the region.
"People can’t even afford to buy bread and they are being totally ignored by the coalition,” Meslat added.
The uprising in Deir Ezzor is not against the US, tribal leaders from the al-Hifl and Baggara tribes said. Their main demand is an end to SDF rule and the creation of an independent military council made up of local Arabs that can coordinate security and economic assistance directly with the US.
“We have no problem cooperating with the international coalition, but it must be under the leadership of people in the region and with a total rejection of SDF forces,” said Sheikh Amir al-Bashir, a leader of Deir Ezzor’s Baggara tribe fighting the SDF alongside the al-Aqeedat tribe.
As of Tuesday, the fighting in Deir Ezzor centred around the towns of al-Hawaij and al-Diban, two bastions of support for the al-Aqeedat. In telegram channels affiliated with the tribe, audio messages have called on tribal members in Turkey and other parts of Syria to join the fight against the SDF.
“The tribal region has become a burning volcano. It’s like a rolling ball of fire that won’t stop unless our demands are met,” added Bashir from his base in Sanliurfa Turkey.
Deir Ezzor is a fertile, resource-rich region that is home to some of Syria’s only oil fields. The US maintains military bases at the Conoco gas field and al-Omar oil field. Deir Ezzor was the last major stronghold of ISIS.
In 2017, the SDF fought alongside local Arab tribes with US backing to remove the group from the province.
Today, Deir Ezzor is split along the Euphrates River. The US and its allies hold the eastern bank, while Syrian government forces and their Russian and Iranian allies control the west. Because of its position next to Iraq, it sits on lucrative smuggling routes, the control of which has enriched local commanders.
Tensions between the Arab community and SDF have been simmering since the defeat of ISIS.
The tensions are partly economic. Leaders of the Baggara and Akaidat tribes complain of widespread corruption and accused the Kurdish-led group of hijacking Deir Ezzor’s natural resources.
The US-backed SDF is a multi-ethnic Syrian force, but its backbone is the Kurdish People's Protection Units or YPG. The Syrian YPG has close ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged a decades-long war for independence against Turkey.
“The biggest problem in Deir Ezzor is the dominance of the PKK party and its control over the military and civil bodies in the region,” al-Bashir of the Baggara tribe told MEE, adding that the region’s economic resources were being diverted to fund the PKK and that drug smuggling was rampant.
The US’s ties to the SDF are a major irritant in relations with Nato member Turkey, which views the SDF as an extension of the PKK. While the US considers the PKK a terrorist organisation, it refuses to cut ties with the SDF, which Washington sees as its most effective ally against ISIS remnants.
Critics have also accused the SDF of governing undemocratically and violently suppressing peaceful protests.
The staunchly secular, Kurdish majority SDF has also clashed with the traditional and more conservative Arab population in Deir Ezzor. There are reports the SDF has attempted to draft Arab women into its ranks and has tried to prevent the re-settlement of Arabs to Deir Ezzor by forcing them to have a Kurdish sponsor to live in the area.
Critics say the US has failed to address the concerns of its Arab partners. Bassam Ishak, a representative in Washington DC of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), the civilian counterpart of the SDF, denied the government in the autonomous Kurdish region was specifically targeting Arabs and said complaints about corruption should be addressed peacefully.
On Sunday, senior State Department official Ethan Goldrich and Major General Joel Vowell, who heads the coalition against IS, released a statement saying they had met Arab tribal leaders and SDF commanders and agreed to "address local grievances" and "de-escalate violence as soon as possible and avoid casualties”.
But in an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic, Musab al-Hifl, one of the leaders of the Akaidat tribe fighting the SDF, said no members of his tribe, one of the largest in Syria, were present at the gathering.
“Basically what the US has done so far is try to pretend none of the fighting happened and dozens of people haven’t been killed. They think they can just go back to square one,” said Ford, the last US ambassador to Syria and noted sceptic of the US military presence.
“I don’t see any evidence that the US is willing to address the Arab’s calls for reform,” Ford said, adding that he believed the US was siding with the SDF over the tribes. “I don’t see the US threatening to cut off arms supplies to the SDF. It’s clear they have empowered one side of the conflict.”
Experts say the US’s approach to the fighting speaks to the bigger question of what the US’s endgame is in Syria.
US troops arrived in the northeast in 2015 as part of Operation Inherent Resolve to eradicate IS. Although the so-called "caliphate" was territorially defeated in 2019, around 900 US troops and more military contractors remain in the region where they train the SDF and carry out raids on IS sleeper cells.
Waters said Assad has been trying unsuccessfully for years to flip Deir Ezzor’s Sunni tribes, but doesn’t have the resources amid an economic crisis. Damascus is struggling to address protests in government-controlled parts of the country.
The tribes lack the SDF’s heavy weaponry, but Ford cautioned the US against banking on an SDF military victory to restore order.
“The SDF taking Deir Ezzor back by force doesn’t end this. The tribal grievances are still there," the former ambassador said.'
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Rima Flihan:
'Since August 20, protests and a general strike in the southern governorate of Sweida, which has a population of approximately 770,000, have persisted. Protesters have closed the headquarters of the Baath Party and removed pictures of dictator Bashar al-Assad from the streets and buildings of the city.
These demonstrations call for a change in the Syrian régime and the full implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2254, which put forth a road map for the peace process in Syria, including forming a transitional governing body with full powers. Protesters also advocate for political, civil, and human rights for all Syrians: freedom, dignity, justice, equality, the release of detainees, and the ability to live decently, especially given the deteriorating economic situation that has become unbearable.
The régime has implemented failed economic policies and has been unable to secure the needs of its citizens. Additionally, the Syrian people believe that the régime is not interested in integrating a political solution that would lead to a new reality for Syrians—one that would allow for reconstruction and the lifting of sanctions. This conviction is bolstered by the fact that the régime is currently granting contracts that allow Russia and Iran to access the country’s resources. Meanwhile, the Syrian people are struggling.
Additionally, the Assad régime and ruling class are drowning in funds looted from the people through a deep network of corruption, which is compounded by the destruction of infrastructure since the beginning of severe military repression in 2011. The régime has displaced nearly half of the Syrian population, killed hundreds of thousands, and detained over a hundred thousand—many of whom have been tortured to death. Despite this dark history looming overhead, Syrians still felt compelled to take to the streets in Sweida to demand régime change: the only practical solution to ending the humanitarian catastrophe they face.
It may be unexpected to witness this scene after all the suppression and war crimes committed by the Assad régime in Syria. However, it signifies that the desire for change in Syria still exists within the Syrian people.
Sweida, a predominantly Druze-majority province, has witnessed scattered and continuous protests throughout the previous years led by its intellectual elite. Nonetheless, the demonstrations were never as widespread and inclusive as today. These protests have been joined by women’s movements, religious figures, employees, urban and rural residents, intellectuals, and opposition politicians.
The protests have also occurred in other parts of Syria, including Daraa, Idlib, Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, and Aleppo. Voices of opposition from the Syrian coast—the heart of the Syrian régime’s stronghold—are growing louder, openly calling for change and the departure of the head of the régime: Assad. Moreover, new revolutionary groups, like the Tenth of August Movement, are also forming.
This uprising in Sweida met with media incitement by the régime against the people of Sweida, accusing them of betrayal and profiteering, The régime used this media incitement against demonstrators to create division between Syrians and create a reason to arrest and maybe attack them in the future, as he did in other areas. The government also employed arrests and suppression in other provinces. The people of Sweida—those at home and in the diaspora—are concerned that the régime might use its affiliated militias or groups, such as Lebanese Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), to suppress this movement—just as it has done in other provinces in the past.
The current protests in Sweida come at a sensitive and critical phase after the hopes of Syrians in the West and Arab countries were lost, especially following the normalization of the Assad régime with Arab countries in May.
Nevertheless, the Assad régime has shown no interest in being involved in the Arab initiative or any political solution. The régime has not taken any trust-building steps, responded to the effects of UNSC Resolution 2254, nor committed to the political process. On the contrary, in his recent interview with Sky News Arabia on August 9, Assad appeared indifferent to the reckless policies that have led the country to disintegration and economic and social collapse.
Despite over a decade of carnage, damage, and destruction caused by his rule, during the interview, Assad attempted to falsify history by claiming that the number of Syrians who protested against him did not exceed a hundred thousand. This is a grand historical distortion. Detainees exceed a hundred thousand and protests involving hundreds of thousands have occurred across all Syrian provinces. A few days after his remarks, the people of Sweida—not just the Druze, but Bedouins and others—united to tell him to leave.
Today, Arab countries bear a historic responsibility to reconsider their calculations. The scene in Sweida proves that the only acceptable solution to achieve peace in Syria is by fully implementing political transition and avoiding normalization with the Assad régime. This approach will fully address the refugee problem and security issues by confronting the captagon manufacturers, distributors, and smugglers directly linked to the régime, Hezbollah, and militias in Syria.
As long as the Assad régime is in power, it will not sever its alliance with Tehran. As its history and behavior show, it will remain a rogue régime in the region, unconcerned with the security of neighboring countries or global peace. Changing the régime in Syria by enforcing 2254 and starting the transitional process, as demanded by the protesters, will begin the process of reconstruction and revitalize the economy, leading to stability in the country and the region as a result. With these points in mind, Arab governments should remember that supporting the Syrian régime will not bring stability to the region. Instead, the crisis will perpetuate and the Syrian people will pay the price with their blood and livelihoods.
The international community also bears responsibility for the current state in Syria. It has not seriously addressed the régime’s crimes, successfully enforced a political solution, nor implemented UN resolutions. The Assad régime has repeatedly used chemical weapons, practiced systematic torture, extrajudicial killings, forced displacement, enforced disappearances, and bombed civilians, hospitals, schools, and public markets. No serious measures have been taken to implement Resolution 2254. The political solution has been diluted by focusing solely on the constitution—a path that has been dead since birth—and no agreement has been reached on a timetable for it.
The Syrian people pay the price of oppression, bloodshed, and displacement. The root cause of the suffering endured by Syrians is being ignored, which is the ongoing rule of the Assad régime. The international policy that unleashed Russia in Syria is responsible for Moscow’s continued audacity in Syria and globally, as demonstrated by its actions in Ukraine. History shows that disregarding war criminals and rogue behavior will inevitably lead to the persistence of their crimes, as well as the expansion and escalation of them.
The Syrian men, women, and children of Sweida and all provinces are taking to the streets, proclaiming with their voices that the people of Syria deserve lasting peace, freedom, dignity, and decent living conditions. They deserve liberation from the tyrannical Assad régime and the provision of the rights stipulated by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They earnestly demand serious engagement and the full implementation of UNSC Resolution 2254 to achieve political change in Syria and secure political, civil, and human rights, aiming for a homeland where citizenship and justice are realized for all Syrians without discrimination.
This is the cry of an oppressed people whom the world has let down, abandoned, and disregarded since 2011. The protests are a last flicker of hope for the Syrian people. They are an ethical test for the world in regard to pursuing a comprehensive and sustainable political solution that will bring about genuine change in Syria. Can the world hear the people of Syria?'
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