LOpposing forces are competing for the support of tribal leaders in eastern Syria, with each side accusing the other of trying to further divide the country.

Mohammed al-Janduli, head of President Bashar al-Assad's military security branch in the northeastern city of Hasakah, called on Arab tribal chiefs to attend a June 20 conference in Aleppo. More than 50 members of tribes east of the Euphrates River were invited to the meeting and attendees expressed their support for Assad, according to the state-sponsored Syrian Arab News Agency. SANA didn't say how many leaders actually attended.

The conference came in response to the unexpected visit June 13 of Thamer al-Sabhan, Saudi minister of state for Middle East affairs, to Deir ez-Zor, where he met with Kurdish leaders, US Deputy Secretary of State Joel Rayburn, US Ambassador William Roebuck and a number of Arab sheikhs and dignitaries.

During his visit, Sabhan called on Arab tribes to join forces with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to prevent the return of the Islamic State (IS) and end the protests that broke out in Deir ez-Zor after the SDF liberated it from IS in March.