For the 8th consecutive day, fighting rages in eastern Syria between the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Arab tribes. Twenty people were killed on Tuesday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, bringing to 90 the death toll in these fighting between allies.
2 mins
With our correspondent in the region, Paul Khalifeh
The fights focus around the locality of Zeiban, on the left bank of the Euphrates, stronghold of the tribal chief Ibrahim al-Hafl, considered by the Syrian Democratic Forces as the instigator of the rebellion of the Arab tribes. And they are very intense. The pan-Arab channel al-Mayadeen, close to Damascus, indicates that the SDF violently bombarded Zeibane using armed drones and mortar shells.
Although they have far greater firepower than the tribal fighters, the Kurdish-dominated forces are moving slowly. The Arab tribes, who have decreed a general mobilization, oppose a strong resistance.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and sources close to Damascus claim that the SDF took over some localities after bringing in large reinforcements from other provinces under their control. But much of the east of the eastern province of Deir Ezzor still eludes them.
Negotiations and refugees
US officers and diplomats sponsored a meeting between representatives of the belligerents to try to end the clashes between their allies. Mediation failed.
Faced with the violence of the fighting, the inhabitants of several localities crossed to the right bank of the Euphrates to find refuge in the areas controlled by the Syrian government.
For more than a week, the SDF and Arab tribes have been clashing following the arrest by the former of Ahmad al-Khabil, the head of the Military Council of Deir Ezzor, a local armed Arab group affiliated with the SDF. He is accused of embezzlement, drug trafficking and collusion with the regime.
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