Clashes turn tribal between Turkish-backed opposition factions
The Turkish-backed opposition factions are trying to portray their conflicts as tribal in a bid to absolve themselves of the violations committed in the area.
Armed clashes with heavy machine guns and RPGs erupted May 24 within the scope of renewed infighting between members of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA). The dispute is traced back to a tribal revenge case in the area that culminated into armed clashes expanding in most of the neighborhoods of Ras al-Ain in the Hasakah countryside.
The armed confrontation went on until noon May 25. A man named Mohammed Al-Awad Al-Daar from the Al-Akidat tribe was killed. He was shot by Khaled Al-Abdullah, a member of the Al-Mawali tribe, under the umbrella of the SNA-affiliated Thairun Movement in Ras Al-Ain. Abdullah was reportedly avenging his brother, who was killed 10 days ago by a person affiliated with Al-Qaraab clan, a branch of the Al-Akidat tribe.
The clashes also led to the killing of two members of the Al-Mawali tribe and to mutual arrests between the two sides. Al-Akidat gunmen took control of the headquarters of the Al-Mawali tribe fighters in the city. More than nine gunmen from both sides were wounded, as were two civilians.
Tension between the two tribes expanded beyond the Ras al-Ain area to the countryside of Aleppo, where gunmen from the Al-Mawali tribe set up checkpoints on the Afrin-Jenderes road. They checked identity cards and arrested a number of people from Deir ez-Zor from the Al-Akidat tribe, documenting this in video footage.
