SHUHAIL, Syria — Graffiti denouncing the mostly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is scrawled across the walls in Shuhail, an Arab town in Deir ez-Zor province flanked by golden grain fields near the snaking Euphrates River.

Weeks of Arab protests against Kurdish control here have mostly quieted during Ramadan but are expected to resume after the holy month ends June 4. Deadly incidents in early May left a decidedly tense atmosphere. The residents are wary of speaking to the media and refuse to use their real names, citing fear of being killed or arrested.

The river basically splits the province into east and west. During Al-Monitor's visit May 20, oil tanker trucks were parked along the regime-controlled western side, while a boat plied the river, “stealing our oil,” a young local resident with a checkered scarf wrapped across his face told Al-Monitor tersely while staring across the river.

He claimed that diesel is three times as expensive in Shuhail as it is in the Kurdish-dominant north, despite the proximity of key oil fields, and that this price gouging is only one of many ways the US-backed SDF is making local residents desperate. (There have been reports, however, that US-led coalition troops and SDF forces have fired on regime ferries transporting oil from the Shuhail area.)