Hundreds of civilian Arabs have been forced out of their villages in eastern Syria’s Deir el-Zour province since clashes broke out between Arab tribes and PKK/YPG terrorists late last month.
Since Aug. 27, the PKK and its Syrian offshoot, the YPG, have been using heavy artillery to target Arabs living in eastern and southeastern districts of Deir el-Zour, territory it seized with the support of the United States, according to local sources.
The conflict, which expanded with the participation of other Arab tribes, left over 90 people dead, mostly fighters but also nine civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
For nearly two weeks now, the group has been firing at settlements in Giranic, As-Suwayda, Theban, Al-Tayyanah and Havayic towns, all of which it lost after clashes in Deir el-Zour, driving hundreds out of their homes to seek refuge in relatively safe villages under Arab control.
Since Aug. 27, a total of 33 villages have been liberated from YPG/PKK occupation in the rural areas of the Deir el-Zour, Raqqa, and Hasakah provinces and the Manbij district of Aleppo.
Arab-majorityDeir el-Zour, a resource-rich region that borders Iraq, is bisected by the Euphrates and is home to dozens of tribal communities.
The PKK/YPG has been forcibly recruiting children of the communities ever since it occupied the region with the help of Washington who first partnered with the group under the pretext of fighting Daesh, another terror group.
The terrorists generate income by selling the oil they obtained by seizing oil wells in the region to Damascus through smugglers, despite U.S. sanctions. While the terrorist group uses this income for its own purposes, the people of the region are deprived of local services and much-needed aid.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the head of one of the region’s biggest Arab tribes urged the U.S. government to “step in” and for Arabs to “step up in the regional security mechanism.
On behalf of other tribes in Deir el-Zour, Ibrahim al-Hafil, leader of the Akidat tribe, authorized the Citizens for a Secure and Safe America (C4SSA) to convey a series of demands to the White House, a written statement from the tribe revealed.
Akidat’s demands include “immediate cease-fire, the delivery of the deceased and the injured, as well as medical aid, U.S. presence as a guarantor in order to prevent a cease-fire violation, direct negotiations with the U.S., protection of al-Hafil and his companions” and notably “the restructuring of Deir el-Zour Military Council by the locals.”
Türkiye too on Wednesday called on the U.S. to “stop suppressing Arab communities in Syria that are in the hands of YPG/PKK terror group.”
“One of the pillars of Türkiye’s Syria policy is that every community in the country gets to live wherever they are,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told reporters in the capital at a joint press conference with Oliver Varhelyi, the EU's commissioner for neighborhood and enlargement.
“It’s vital that no one is driven out of their homes and forced under the yoke of anyone,” Fidan stressed.
“However, the resistance of Arab tribes in Syria against U.S.-backed YPG’s occupation is something Ankara has predicted a long time ago,” he added. “Clashes like this bring with them consequences that could snowball into long-term blood feuds between the two communities.”
Arguing that it would take long years until the discord both the U.S. and the YPG have sown between the Arabs and Kurds in the region is cured, Fidan called on Washington and “other relevant states” to “end their policy of suppressing the region’s Arabs through the YPG.”
“The painting of YPG terror group as legitimate must end, or conflicts we see (in Deir el-Zour) are just the beginning,” Fidan warned.
“Seeing much more dangerous outcomes for our region would be inevitable. Türkiye is taking every measure both for our own border safety and the security of our friends,” he assured.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan too had lauded the joint fight of Arab tribes against the PKK/YPG as a “reclamation of territory” and “a struggle of honor.”
“Countries that support these organizations must see that the terrorist group PKK/YPG does not recognize the right to live for the people of the region through its terrorist activities,” Erdoğan said Tuesday.
Ankara is constantly informing the U.S. and Russia about the PKK/YPG’s terrorist activities that threaten Türkiye, he added.
“There is no massacre or terrorist activity that this terrorist organization would not do to control the oil in Deir el-Zour. We have made the necessary warnings to the addressee countries in this regard.”
Some 900 U.S. troops have been stationed in northern Syria since 2015 when the civil war between the Assad regime and its opposition was at its peak. Starting in 2012 when Assad’s forces withdrew, the PKK/YPG controlled much of the northeastern region. While U.S. forces largely withdrew and stationed near oil fields in 2019, Washington still sends military reinforcements to YPG terrorists in Deir el-Zour and conducts joint patrols.
Türkiye has been leading counteroffensives against the terrorist groups there and striving to establish a 30-kilometer-deep (19-mile-deep) security line since 2016.
