| Deir ez-Zor Military Council | |
|---|---|
| مجلس دير الزور العسكري | |
 Flag of the Deir ez-Zor Military Council | |
| Leaders | |
| Dates of operation | 8 December 2016 – present |
| Group(s) | Gathering of al-Baggara Youth [8] |
| Active regions | |
| Allies | Elite Forces Al-Sanadid Forces People's Protection Units Martyr Amara Arab Women's Battalion [9] |
| Battles and wars | |
The Deir ez-Zor Military Council is an Arab-majority militia of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), based in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate.
On 8 December 2016 the Deir ez-Zor Military Council was created during a SDF conference in Hasaka. The members consist of remnants of the former armed rebel council of the same name, expelled from the city by the Islamic State in 2014, having joined the SDF in November 2016. [10] [11] However, the pro-opposition Deir ez-Zor 24 organization denied that the military council's commander, known as Abu Khawla, was a commander in any FSA group. [12]
On 11 December, the council stated that after completing the second phase of the Northern Raqqa offensive they will redirect their focus to Deir ez-Zor Governorate. [3]
On 25 August 2017, 800 fighters left the Elite Forces and were integrated into the ranks of the SDF and its Deir ez-Zor Military Council. The fighters accused the Elite Forces of corruption. These forces consisted of 7 units of al-Baggara and al-Shaitat tribal fighters stationed in the eastern Raqqa and southern Hasaka countrysides, [13] [14] among them the Gathering of al-Baggara Youth, led by Yasser al-Dahla. [5]
On 28 September 2017, Yasser al-Dahla was arrested by SDF military police, which accused Dahla of not effectively participating in the SDF's Deir ez-Zor offensive and the "lack of military discipline". The Gathering of al-Baggara Youth denied these charges, and accused the Deir ez-Zor Military Council of denying Euphrates Shield fighters who defected to the SDF to join the Gathering. Dahla reportedly threatened to cease his group's participation in the Deir ez-Zor offensive. [5] Some time after that incident, Yasser al-Dahla was released. On 9 December 2017, he denied reports that he defected to government forces, while acknowledging the disputes between him and other SDF commanders. [4]
The Deir ez-Zor Military Council clashed with Syrian pro-government forces during the Battle of Khasham, [15] while some fighters of the military council stated in late February 2018 that they wanted to aid the defense of Afrin Region against the Turkish military operation. [16]
On 20 September 2019, protests broke out in areas held by SDF in Deir ez-Zor calling for the withdrawal of Syrian government and Iranian-aligned forces from 7 kilometers of territory near Khasham, after threats from pro-government and Iranian backed forces in Deir ez-Zor such as the Baqir Brigade to attack SDF held areas in the region. In response to the protests, the council's field commander released a statement on behalf of the Deir ez-Zor Military Council to a tribal gathering, that they would fight pro-government and allied forces if they were to attack. At the same time another SDF spokesman denied that SDF was involved in organizing the protests but admitted that SDF took no action against them. [17] [18]
On 27 September 2019, protests against the government continued, with protestors demanding that the government withdraw from the eastern banks of the Euphrates and hand it over to SDF, and for SDF's fighters to replace government forces in the area. [19]
On 29 October 2019, the CJTF-OIR coalition bombarded Syrian Army positions in Deir ez-Zor, reportedly in response to the Syrian military shelling SDF-held areas in Deir ez-Zor, following the coalition's bombings clashes were also reported between the Syrian army and SDF in the area during which a Syrian army tank was destroyed. [20]
In August 2023, the Deir ez-Zor Military Council began clashes with the SDF. Local tribes within the Deir ez-Zor Military Council declared that it had full control of six villages within five kilometers of the territory held by the Assad regime near the Euphrates River on August 29 following the withdrawal of the SDF. [21]
Deir ez-Zor is the largest city in eastern Syria and the seventh largest in the country. Located 450 km (280 mi) to the northeast of the capital Damascus on the banks of the Euphrates River, Deir ez-Zor is the capital of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate. In the 2018 census, it had a population of 271,800.
Al-Baggara or Bakara is an Arab tribe of the Euphrates tribes spread widely between Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey. The tribe was named by the name of their grandfather, Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, one of the grandsons of Ali ibn Abi Talib.
The Deir ez-Zor Governorate campaign of the Syrian civil war consists of several battles and offensives fought across the governorate of Syria:
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is a coalition of ethnic militias and rebel groups which serve as the official armed force of the rebels and militants in Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). A US formed and backed alliance of forces formed during the Syrian civil war composed primarily of Kurdish militias with some Arab, Assyrian/Syriac, Armenian, Turkmen and Chechen militias. It is militarily led by the People's Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia recognized as a terrorist group by Turkey. SDF also includes several ethnic militias, and various factions of the Syrian opposition's Free Syrian Army. Founded in 10 October 2015, the SDF claims that its mission as fighting to create a secular, democratic and federalised Syria. According to Turkey, the Syrian Democratic Forces has direct links to the PKK which it recognizes a terrorist group.
The Forces of the Brave, generally called the al-Sanadid Forces, are a militia formed by the Arab Shammar tribe to fight against the Islamic State. Even though the tribe's Syrian strongholds are mostly in the Jazira Canton of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, such as at al-Yaarubiyah and Tell Hamis, the militia operates throughout most of the AANES. The red colour in their flag represents blood while the yellow represents the light, calling themselves “marchers on the red death”. The al-Sanadid Forces are affiliated with the co-governor/co-president of Jazira Canton and tribal leader Humaydi Daham al-Hadi, and are led by Humaydi's son Bandar al-Humaydi.
The Syria's Tomorrow Movement is a Syrian opposition party founded in March 2016 in Cairo by Ahmad Jarba, a Syrian National Council member. The party is backed by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates and cooperates with the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, although it is not part of the coalition. They also cooperate with the Syrian Democratic Council of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.
The Raqqa campaign was a military operation launched in November 2016 during the Rojava–Islamist conflict by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Raqqa Governorate, with the goal of isolating and eventually capturing the Islamic State's capital city, Raqqa. The SDF's subsidiary goals included capturing the Tabqa Dam, the nearby city of al-Thawrah, and the Baath Dam further downstream. The campaign ended successfully in October 2017, with the capture of Raqqa.
The Northern Democratic Brigade is a Free Syrian Army unit that is closely allied to the Syrian Kurdish YPG and YPJ in Afrin Region since 2014. Led by Absi Taha, Alexander Khalil, and Alexander Alaa, it also joined the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in November 2015. The initial members of the group originated from Jabal Zawiya in Idlib, and it has recruited Arabs from Idlib, Aleppo, and other cities in northern Syria since allying with the YPG. Since joining the SDF, the unit has begun to operate across much of northern and eastern Syria, participating in operations against anti-SDF Syrian opposition factions, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the Turkish Armed Forces, and the Syrian National Army.
The Central Syria campaign, known as "Operation Khuzam", or "Lavender", was a large-scale military operation of the Syrian Army (SAA) against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) during the Syrian Civil War. Its goal was to capture the strategic oil town of Al-Sukhnah, and besiege and capture 11,000 square kilometers of ISIL territory in central Syria, after which the Syrian Army would advance towards Deir ez-Zor, and lift the three-year ISIL siege of the government's enclave in the city. Afterwards, the Syrian Army advanced towards the Islamic State's then-capital of Mayadin.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from September to December 2017. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
The Deir ez-Zor campaign, codenamed the al-Jazeera Storm campaign, was a military operation launched by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria's Deir ez-Zor Governorate in 2017 during the Syrian Civil War with the goal of capturing territory in eastern Syria, particularly east and north of the Euphrates river. The U.S.-led Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF–OIR) anti-ISIL coalition provided extensive air support while SDF personnel composed the majority of the ground forces; OIR special forces and artillery units were also involved in the campaign.
The 2017 Euphrates Crossing offensive was a military offensive launched by the Syrian Arab Army against members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate, following the breaking of the three-year siege of the city of Deir ez-Zor. The Euphrates Crossing offensive, conducted by government troops, was done with the aim of denying US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and the US itself leverage over the Syrian government.
The 2017 Mayadin offensive was a military offensive launched by the Syrian Arab Army against members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate, following the breaking of the three-year siege of the city of Deir ez-Zor. The Mayadin offensive, conducted by Syrian Army troops, was conducted with the aim of capturing ISIL's new de facto capital of Mayadin, and securing the villages and towns around it.
The Deir ez-Zor offensive was a military operation launched by the Syrian Armed Forces to completely expel the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from the city of Deir ez-Zor, a provincial capital, located on the banks of the Euphrates river. From 2014 until 2017, the city had been divided into Syrian government and ISIL-controlled halves. The rest of the Governorate (province) was under ISIL control for most of this time, putting the government-controlled half of the city under siege.
The Eastern Syria campaign of September–December 2017 was a large-scale military operation of the Syrian Army (SAA) and its allies against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) during the Syrian Civil War. Its goal was to clear the city of Deir ez-Zor of any remaining ISIL forces, capture ISIL's de facto capital of Mayadin, as well as seize the border town of Abu Kamal, which became one of ISIL's final urban strongholds by the latter stages of the campaign.
On 29 April 2018, clashes took place between Syrian government forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Deir ez-Zor Governorate.
The Eastern Syria insurgency is an armed insurgency being waged by remnants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and both pro and anti-Syrian government Arab nationalist insurgents, against the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), its military, and their allies in the US-led Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF–OIR) coalition.
Rashid Abu Khawla was a commander in the Syrian Democratic Forces and former Syrian Opposition leader based in Deir ez-Zor.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian civil war for 2022. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found in Casualties of the Syrian civil war.
Starting on 27 August 2023, an escalation of violence occurred across Deir ez-Zor Governorate in eastern Syria. The clashes began after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is the military force of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) arrested the military commander of Deir ez-Zor Military Council known by the name of Abu Khawla, accusing him of corruption and unlawful activity. Abu Khawla has the support of some Arab tribes in Deir-Ez-Zor. The arrest led to a spiraling cycle of violence that escalated when tribal gunmen launched an offensive against the SDF in the region. As a result of the ongoing clashes, tribal fighters managed to take control of some towns and villages. However, a counterattack by the SDF regained control of all lost areas by 7 September 2023. The SDF officially termed the counter-attack Operation Security Reinforcement. Another, short-lived rebellion took place from 25 to 27 September, inspired by an attack by pro-Syrian government militias from across the Euphrates; this uprising was quickly defeated by the SDF.
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