Security disorder | Syrian smugglers clash with Iraqi Hezbollah near Syria-Iraq border over revenue-sharing

Deir Ezzor province: SOHR sources have reported that violent clashes erupted yesterday between the Iraqi Hezbollah and smugglers from Al-Hirri town in Deir Ezzor countryside adjacent to the Syria-Iraq border. The clashes, which lasted for hours, followed disagreements over revenue-sharing of smuggled stuffs.

 

According to SOHR sources, the clashes erupted between the sons of a man known by his initials as H. A. on one hand, and militiamen of the Iraqi Hezbollah, led by the official in charge of the security and economic affairs of Al-Bokamal-Al-Qa’em border crossing between Iraq and Syria, who is called “Abu Rama Al-Iraqi,” on the other.

 

The clashes caused material damages, including the breakdown of a military car affiliated to the Iraqi Hezbollah, before the commander-in-chief of Iranian-backed militias in Al-Bokamal interfered to break up the clashes. The man ordered the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) to withdraw and demanded the sons of H. A. meet together and discuss the reasons behind this dispute. However, the outcomes of the meeting remain unknown.

 

It is worth noting that H. A. and “Abu Rama Al-Iraqi” worked together in smuggling drugs, weapons, cigarettes, mobile phones and other stuffs across the Syria-Iraq border. SOHR sources have confirmed that disagreements erupted previously between the two men on several occasions, but they did not evolved into armed clashes.