BEIRUT, LEBANON (9:10 P.M.) – Members of the Arab tribes in the northeastern countryside of Deir Ezzor organized a protest on Thursday against the practices of the U.S.-backed forces in the region.
According to Sputnik Arabic, the Al-Akidat and Al-Bagara tribesmen in a number of towns and villages along the Euphrates River held a demonstration against the U.S. forces and their allies over their control of Syria’s imperative oil and gas fields east of the Euphrates.
The people gathered inside the town of Mazloum, where they held banners against the seizure of Syria’s oil by the U.S. forces, which began under President U.S. President Donald Trump.
The mayor of the town of Hatla in Deir Ezzor, Fadl Al-Daher, told Sputnik: “The sons of the Arab tribes stand together with the Syrian state in the face of the American occupier who is practicing theft and plunder of the country’s wealth and depriving its children of it, which is reflected in the lives of the Syrian citizen in all parts of the country. In addition, the return of every inch of the homeland is the demand of Arab tribes and tribes in the region and the exit of the American occupier from the region.”
The Al-Akidat and Al-Bagara tribesmen are two tribes east of the Euphrates that have expressed their support for the Syrian state; they have also been the two most vocal tribes against the presence of the U.S. forces in the region.
Last year, the Al-Akidat tribesmen briefly clashed with the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), following the assassination of one of its tribal leaders, which they blamed on the SDF.
Since then, tensions between the two parties has remained high, despite attempts by the U.S. forces to mediate the issues between them.
