Deir ez-Zor residents hold mass rallies against Kurdish arbitrariness

Protests have begun in the Syrian locality of al-Sabha in Deir ez-Zor province against a campaign of arbitrary arrests of local residents by the SDF

A new wave of protests by civilians in the eastern half of the province has begun against the arbitrariness of the Kurdish radicals (SDF) who have seized power across the Euphrates.

Earlier, the Kurdish administration decided to resume the forced conscription of the Arab population of northeastern Syria into the SDF.

Assayish security units conduct regular raids in Deir ez-Zor, Hasakah and Raqqa provinces to identify evaders and forcibly send them to training camps.

Protests against Kurdish and US rule in Arab-majority areas have become the norm over the past four years. Locals are angered by new appointments in their towns and political structures promoted by the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its leadership, which comes mainly from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Despite claims by PYD leaders that they are a democratic and multi-ethnic coalition, Arabs living under their rule believe that it is dominated by Kurdish political interests and locals occupy the lowest rung in the hierarchy of the new Kurdish administration.