U.S. officials visit Syria’s Deir al Zor

Senior U.S. officials visited
Syria’s eastern oil-rich Deir al Zor province on Sunday in an
attempt to defuse an uprising by Arab tribes against Kurdish
rule that is destabilising northeast Syria, U.S. officials,
security sources, and residents said.
An Arab tribal backlash against the rule of the Kurdish YPG
militia has led to clashes, with over 150 killed and dozens
injured. The militia forms the backbone of the U.S.-backed
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and the uprising is the biggest
threat to their rule since they finally drove Islamic State out
of a swathe of the country’s north and east in 2019.
U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Syria Ethan
Goldrich and Major General Joel B Vowell, who heads the
coalition against Islamic State, met Arab tribal leaders and SDF
commanders and agreed to “address local grievances” and
“de-escalate violence as soon as possible and avoid casualties”,
the State Department said.
The arrest of a renegade Arab commander last month by the
SDF sparked unrest that soon swept a string of towns from
Busayrah to Shuhail, in a strategic oil belt in the heart of
Arab tribal territory east of the Euphrates River.
Arab tribal fighters initially drove out the Kurdish-led
forces from several large towns but the SDF has begun to regain
the upper hand.
U.S. military presence in the SDF-run areas has checked the
expansion of militias backed by Russia and Iran, who have a
foothold in areas west of the Euphrates River area and who SDF
officials say are exploiting the internal divisions to spread
their influence.
A spokesman for the SDF accused Iran and the Damascus
government of sending tribal militias to create havoc in the
northeast of Syria, where most of the nearly 900 U.S. troops in
the country are stationed.
Arab tribal leaders say they have been deprived of their oil
wealth after the Kurdish-led forces laid their hands on Syria’s
biggest oil wells after the departure of Islamic State. They
also complain their areas are neglected in favour of
Kurdish-majority areas.
“We want them out of all of Deir al Zor, we want the
administration of the area in the hands of the original Arab
inhabitants,” said Sheikh Mahmoud al Jarallah, a tribal leader.
The Kurdish leadership of the SDF denies it discriminates
against the predominately Arab population under its rule,
blaming Islamic State remnants for intimidating locals and
preventing the area’s development.
Washington has pushed for a bigger say for Arab inhabitants
in running their affairs in SDF areas, Western diplomats say.