Tribal infightings in December | Eight people ki*lled in SDF-controlled areas

Since the beginning of the war which changed the demography of many Syrian areas, all conflicting powers, especially those dominating areas hosting tribal societies, namely Al-Raqqah, Deir Ezzor, Aleppo and Al-Hasakah, have been working on creating and boosting tribal figures, as well as armament of specific tribes, creating a considerable gap among the Syrian tribes. Such efforts have fuelled the rivalrous and vengeful nature which tribal societies embrace, especially with the current deteriorating security situation and alarming proliferation of arms in east and north Euphrates regions, which are controlled by SDF, regime forces and Turkish-backed factions.

 

At a time when laws in Syria are on hold, along with the absence of traditions which had called for preventing bloodshed and punishing everyone brandishing weapons at civilians, the culture of retaliation and mass killing has been prevailing among Syrian tribes.

 

Despite the formation of reconciliation committees and councils for settling disputes and defuse tension in SDF-controlled areas, a state of panic and disorder has been prevailing among civilians, in light of the ongoing bloodshed due to indiscriminate gunfire during tribal clashes and disputes over drug business.

 

Since early December, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has documented the death of eight people, including two brothers, due to tribal infightings in SDF-controlled areas. Here are further details:

 

• December 1: A young man shot dead a man in his sixties near Al-Saha roundabout in Al-Masaref neighbourhood in Al-Qamishli city in Al-Hasakah province.

 

• December 4: Two young brothers were killed and three others were injured, due to quarrels between cousins of “Al-Kolaizat” tribe that escalated to clashes with weapons in Zain Al-Mabraj village in Um Madfaa area within SDF-held areas southern of Al-Hasakah, where the injured people were taken to hospitals of Al-Hasakah to receive proper medication, amid tension between the tribe members in the village.

 

• December 9: A young man was injured due to violent clashes with heavy and light weapons over an earlier retaliation among cousins from Al-She’ayta tribe in Al-Muhaymidah neighbourhood in Al-Keshkiyyah town in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor. Meanwhile, sources reported that ambulances headed to the neighbourhood, amid appeals to tribal dignitaries to interfere to solve the dispute.

 

• December 10: A family fighting broken out between the cousins of Al-Khudair Al-Kabeel and Al-Shalal families over a dispute between them in Al-Sour city, north of Deir Ezzor. The dispute developed into armed clashes and left one child injured. The child has been moved to the hospital for treatment.

 

• December 14: A woman was shot dead by a stray bullet due to infighting between two families of Al-Moshahda tribe for an old vendetta, in Al-Sabha town in eastern Deir Ezzor countryside within SDF-held areas.

 

• December 15: Two women were killed and others were injured in violent clashes with machineguns between civilians from Al-Bo Izz Al-Din tribe and a group of Al-Bo Khalaf tribe following disagreements on smuggling diesel via river crossings in Theban desert in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, amid residents’ appeals to tribal dignitaries to defuse the tension.

 

• December 15: A man in his fifties from Rubariya village in Al-Malikiyah countryside in the north-eastern countryside of Al-Hasakah was killed by a man from Kahf Al-Aswad village near the Iraqi border over retaliation that was erupted 15 years ago. The victim’s body was taken to the national hospital in Al-Malikiya.

 

• December 17: Family fighting broke out between cousins of Al-Akidat tribe in Hawaij Dhiban town in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) due to an old vendetta that was renewed today, killing one person. The clashes still go on, amid panic among the people, and appeals for tribal elders and dignitaries to intervene to break up the fighting.

 

This comes as a part of the ongoing security chaos, proliferation of arms and absence of law and deterrence.

 

We, at the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), call for putting an end to the tribal infightings in Syria, which leave many innocent Syrians dead and wounded, and ratify and apply laws punishing everyone possessing unlicensed weapons.