The Arab revolt against the US military occupation in eastern Syria is continuing to spread. SANA reported yesterday that Arab militias in the countryside of Deir Ezzor province in eastern Syria, where the oil fields occupied by US troops are located, expelled SDF Kurdish militias from about a dozen Arab villages. Further, several oil wells were reported to have been attacked and burned, and roads were blocked, preventing the SDF from sending in supplies. “These incidents coincide with the announcement by many elders and dignitaries of Arab clans to general mobilization to continue fighting US occupation-backed QSD militias and expel them from their areas,” SANA said, referring to the SDF.
In response to the deteriorating situation, the SDF announced a 48-hour curfew in Deir Ezzor. The force accused Damascus-linked armed groups and Islamic State (ISIS) fighters of trying to “cause strife in the region and attempting to lure civilians into their dirty plans.”
Elham Ahmed, president of the Executive Committee of the Syrian Democratic Council, the political wing of the SDF, said on Friday that “violent clashes” in Deir Ezzor are “not isolated occurrences.” She blamed the growing unrest on “Iranian-backed militias and the Syrian regime, who want to create unrest and instability throughout the region.” According to unconfirmed reports, a US air strike targeted vehicles associated with “Iranian-backed militias” in Abu Kamal, in an area near the Euphrates River controlled by Syrian government forces.
At the same time, there are indications that the violence is spreading beyond the Deir Ezzor region, to Manbij and the Aleppo countryside in the north and in Suweida in southern Syria. SANA reported this morning that Arab tribes in the northern Aleppo countryside issued a statement against both the US and Turkish occupations. They said that they stand by the Syrian State, the Army and its allies under the leadership of President Bashar al-Assad against the illegitimate presence of any occupation on Syrian lands. The statement condemned practices of the U.S. occupation and its tools who loot Syrian resources, affirming that these resources, of oil and wheat, are the property of the Syrian people. Much remains unclear regarding the differing agendas of the various Arab tribes, due in part to the complexities arising from the US and Turkish military occupations, but the occupiers appear to be faced with a challenge they haven’t seen before in Syria.
