Both Turkey and the Assad regime are trying to take advantage of the nationalist sentiments among the Arab population in Deir ez-Zor and turn them against autonomous administration. Cells from Turkish intelligence MIT and the Syrian secret service Mukhabarat are murdering tribal leaders, among others.

Oil fields on the edge of the Euphrates

The province of Deir ez-Zor, located in the northeast of Syria, is the largest province of Syria in terms of territory. For a long time the region was under Ottoman rule, but after a short French mandate the area became part of Syria in 1946. The region consists mainly of desert areas, therefore 99 percent of the settlements are located on the banks of the Euphrates and Khabur rivers. In principle, agriculture is the main source of income for the people in the province, but it suffered massively under the policies of the Baath regime and the ensuing civil war.

In Deir ez-Zor there are rich oil and gas deposits. As in the neighbouring areas in Iraq, the population consists almost entirely of Sunni Arab tribes. The people in the region have always opposed the government in Damascus because of the monistic policy of the Assad regime. But a large proportion of them were under the influence of the Sunni-dominated Ba'athist regime in Iraq during Saddam Hussein's government and still have strong Arab nationalist feelings.

When oil production began in Syria in 1968, the first production facilities were built in Deir ez-Zor, where the largest oil fields in the country are located. For the people of Deir ez-Zor, a new job market in the oil sector opened up. Meanwhile, agriculture, which had been neglected by the regime, continued to weaken. In the course of the civil war, the irrigation canals, which are essential for life, suffered severe damage and agriculture was completely marginalised.

Arms and oil smuggling

The majority of the people in the province are armed. There have been weapons in the region for more than 20 years, and the Ba'ath regime has been promoting the smuggling of weapons from the region to Iraq since the early 1990s. When the Syrian civil war began, practically all the people in Deir ez-Zor armed themselves. In any case, they were opposed to the regime. Besides the Okaidat and Begara tribes, there are many small tribes in the region. Each tribe at that time was divided into different oppositional factions. From 2013, the al-Qaeda branch Jabhat al-Nusra took control of the northeast of Deir ez-Zor and the oil fields. During the Syrian civil war, oil smuggling also began, which continued during ISIS rule over the region. In July 2014, the ISIS occupied the entire area, which stretches from the eastern landscape of Deir ez-Zor to the Iraqi border.

During the reign of the ISIS, clashes with the Sheitat tribe erupted in August 2014 due to disagreements over the control of wheat stores and oil wells in the region. The ISIS committed several massacres and brutally slaughtered hundreds of men from the Sheitat tribe in an unbelievable manner. The jihadists then leased the oil wells to followers in the tribes. While on the one hand the ISIS sold the oil from Deir ez-Zor to Turkey and to the regime via traders, on the other hand the inhabitants smuggled oil into the regime areas. 

People flee to the SDF

When the rural areas of Deir ez-Zor, i.e. cities like al-Mayadeen or al-Bukamal, were under ISIS control, the few regime areas in the city centre were locked up by the jihadists. After the SDF launched its offensive to liberate Raqqa in May 2016, the regime, together with the Iranian Hezbollah and Russian support, advanced south of Deir ez-Zor. However, they did not get far. In September 2017, the SDF offensive began on Deir ez-Zor. Meanwhile, the regime advanced on the other side of the Euphrates.

Even though the ISIS acted extremely ruthlessly during the offensive, the military council of Deir ez-Zor, which had organized itself within the framework of the SDF, received great support from society. The regime made no distinction between military and civilian targets and used heavy bombardment, mistreatment and torture to advance the population. Therefore, a new flight was triggered: from the areas controlled by the regime to the SDF.

SDF liberates oil fields - the regime attacks

As part of the SDF offensive, the region's major oil fields were liberated one by one. This brought Damascus to the scene. The regime began to attack oil fields like Jafra and the villages around the oil wells with heavy weapons and to clear the way for the ISIS. In October 2017, the SDF noticed an ISIS truck loaded with mines and explosives trying to penetrate into Deir ez-Zor from the regime-controlled town of Salihiya. Due to the SDF’s intervention, the jihadists left the truck and retreated into the regime area.

Deir ez-Zor: Two administrations, two systems

Today, one and a half years have passed since the SDF liberated the last ISIS enclave Bagouz. In Deir ez-Zor, two systems rule. The city centre of Deir ez-Zor, al-Mayadeen, al-Bukamal and the south and southwest banks of the Euphrates are partly under the control of the regime. The north, north-west and north-east banks of the Euphrates and also the oil fields there are self-governing and protected by the SDF. The self-governing areas in Deir ez-Zor are currently home to two million people, including refugees. The vast majority of the internal refugees come from the areas under regime control, but there are also people from Iraq, Damascus and Idlib.

The democratic self-government of Deir ez-Zor, which is now part of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and was founded in September 2017 by the civil councils parallel to the offensive against the ISIS, is the target of permanent attacks by the regime, Turkey and ISIS cells. Nevertheless, the structures continue their work. And even today the flight from the regime areas to the regions under self-government continues.

Population is provided with cheaper diesel and oil

Most of the refineries on the oil and gas fields in the democratic autonomous areas in Deir ez-Zor have become practically unusable because of the war. After liberation, the local government transferred some of the sources to the tribes. Another part was given by contract to the Cizîrê oil company and is processed there. According to the contract, 70 percent of the income goes to the self-government, the remaining 30 percent remains with the company. The company sells part of the crude oil produced to traders and refines another part into diesel to supply the people in the region.

In May 2019, two months after the liberation of Baghouz, the local government associated all the oil wells in Deir ez-Zor in order to offer the population cheaper and higher quality diesel. The crude oil processed by the oil companies was refined into diesel and delivered to the inhabitants of Deir ez-Zor at 75 liras per liter. That is about one twentieth of the market price. In the areas of Deir ez-Zor and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, diesel prices are the lowest in the world. Some tribes and individuals who felt disturbed by the self-government's socialization of all oil sources protested against this. These protests were fueled by the Ba'ath regime and Turkey. Nevertheless, the socialization is supported by the majority of the people of the region. Some tribes have said in the past: "Oil comes from our region, so it belongs to us. Why should it be left to other tribes and regions?".

The population did not accept the regime despite pressure

Since the liberation of Deir ez-Zor, the attacks have not stopped. On the contrary, the regime's secret service, Mukhabarat, the ISIS and MIT have increased their activities. From documents that the security forces were able to seize during investigations, it is clear that MIT, like Mukhabarat, have infiltrated the ISIS cells with their agents. These agents are mainly former ISIS members. In this way, the ISIS cells can be controlled according to the wishes of the secret services. Investigations have shown that most ISIS attacks in the region are masterminded by the Turkish or Syrian secret services.

Directly after the liberation of the region by the SDF, the regime initiated a defamation campaign against the SDF and the autonomous administration. The regime held meetings with tribal leaders in Hesekê and declared those who collaborated with the SDF and the autonomous administration as "traitors". The regime threatened the population, saying "We will come back to power. Then those who stood on the side of the self-government will feel deep remorse". With its cells, bombings and assassinations, Turkey supports the regime's activities in its own way and prefers the regime's control of the region to self-government. Nevertheless, as in Manbij, Raqqa and Tabqa, the people of Deir ez-Zor did not allow regime troops into their region during the Turkish invasion of Girê Spî and Serêkaniyê, and once again declared their support for self-government.

Murders of tribal leaders bear the signature of the regime

After the population of Deir ez-Zor refused to let the regime return despite the Turkish threat of invasion, the cells of MIT and Mukhabarat began to target in particular the representatives of the self-government. On 17 November 2019, an attack was carried out against Lina Abdulvahab, member of the Legislative Council of Deir ez-Zor and the Future Party of Syria. Two masked men stormed the politician's house in Deir ez-Zor and opened fire. Abdulvahab was hit by the bullets in her face, head and arm - she barely survived.

Both the regime and Turkey began to spread anti-propaganda through the tribes in Jarablus, fanning nationalist sentiment with false claims about the distribution of the profits from oil production.

When the meetings between ENKS and PYD were initiated, the Syrian secret service spread false reports such as "The Kurds have reached an agreement, 40 percent of the oil goes to the PYD, 40 percent to the ENKS and 20 percent to the Arabs".

Recently, both representatives of the self-government and tribal leaders have been attacked. On June 15th, the co-mayor of al-Tayyana town, Sakkat Khleif al-Musa, was assassinated in the town hall by gunmen. On 30 July, the Okaidat tribal leader Suleiman al-Qassar was shot dead by unknown persons in the Basira district of Deir ez-Zor. On 31 July, Ali al-Weiss, mayor of the town of Dahlah, east of Deir ez-Zor was shot dead by unknown persons. The politician, who was also head of a family association in the region, was on his way to the mosque to deliver the Friday sermon.

After these attacks, the Turkish-controlled "Council of Tribes of Syria" in occupied Jarablus spread through the Turkish press, as did the Syrian secret service, that the Okaidat tribe had been attacked by the SDF because they were oppositional. The perpetrators arrested so far in connection with the assassination attempts had confessed and openly admitted their work for the Syrian secret service. Eyewitnesses to the assassination of an Okaidat leader reported that the perpetrators had appeared on four motorcycles and then retreated towards the regime zone.

Attacks coordinated by MIT and Mukhabarat will increase

The SDF set up additional checkpoints and conducted extensive investigations after the attacks. Several arrests were made with important statements from the perpetrators. This may have dealt the secret services a severe blow. Nevertheless, the region will continue to be targeted by Turkey and the regime because of its oil wealth and the population structure of tribes inclined towards Arab nationalism. They will use every means at their disposal to create chaos in the region and destroy self-government.

Although the contract between the US company Delta Crescent Energy LLC has still not been confirmed, the reactions of Turkey and the regime already show that counteractivities will increase. The probability that MIT and Mukhabarat will cooperate is very high.

Local government must become more involved

Security measures are not enough to prevent the chaos that MIT and Mukhabarat want to create in the region. The self-government in Deir ez-Zor must become more involved in education and enlightenment and develop services in the region more intensively. Taking into account the patriarchal, nationalist, ruling mentality and corruption that the regime has created there in 50 years of rule, the distribution of services should be more closely controlled for the sake of justice.

Contracts must be drawn up to place military expenditure in the areas still at war and expenditure on services provided by the democratic autonomous administration on the basis of clear rules for the benefit of all peoples.

Although oil is a very important source of income in today's world system, the subsistence of society and agricultural production must be promoted, and its infrastructure developed. New areas of work must be created for the people of the region.

In particular, women's work in Deir ez-Zor must be strengthened. The region is dominated by a patriarchal attitude, which has been further strengthened by the ISIS.

The region of Deir ez-Zor has no common ground with the Ottomans or the regime. But it is also a region that lacks enlightenment. The democratic autonomous administration is the most appropriate administrative model for the structure of the population. Even if there are points of criticism, the vast majority of people there support this model. If the work of self-government there is further developed, neither the regime nor Turkey, with its attempts to sow discord, has the least chance of success.