Deir Ezzor ... from black era to organization, serious action - 1

An overview of Deir Ezzor, tribes and its geographical distribution

Deir Ezzor region is of great strategic importance, as it is located on the Syrian-Iraqi border, on the two banks of the Euphrates River. It contains the largest oil and gas fields in Syria such as Omar, Taym, al-Ward, al-Tanak and Koniko, and it is of a tribal character, so the external forces seek to exploit the region clans, each for his own interests.

In this five-part file, the geographical location, tribes, and their spread will be addressed. The conditions pre crisis, and after, under ISIS control and liberation, to the ploys against it and the efforts made by the Civil Administration in the region.

In the first part, location and the Arab tribes will be addressed. The Deir Ezzor region is located on the eastern side of Syria, on the border with Iraq, and it is about 500 km from the Syrian capital Damascus, and it is bordered to the northeast by the city of Al-Hasaka, and from the northwest to Al-Raqqa from the southwest, Homs.

Deir Ezzor is one of the oldest inhabited Syrian regions, and according to archaeological discoveries dating back to the ninth millennium BC, it was not a significant city in the past, and it was always an urban center affiliated with the neighboring regions and kingdoms, and it was called Shora in the past.

The total area of Deir Ezzor is 33060 km2, and its population before 2011 was about 1.7 million people, which constitutes 7% of the population of Syria, and it is the second largest Syrian governorate after Homs, according to the administrative divisions of the governments.

The majority of the city population are Arabs, with a number of Kurdish, Syriac, Armenian and Turkmen families, and the bulk of Arabs come from tribal backgrounds, which have an important role in social, economic, political and military life, because most of loyalty is to the clan in the first place. Tribal leaders were exploited by all the regimes that ruled Deir Ezzor, before its liberation.

The Euphrates River divides Deir Ezzor into two parts, as most of the major cities are located to the west of the river, such as the city center, Al-Mayadin, Al-Bukamal and Al-Ashara.

Deir Ezzor has a great position, as commercial convoys to and from Baghdad until today, and it also links the Jazira region-Syrian capital Damascus. Nowadays, an important geographical location for the conflicting parties in Syria and even Iraq, due to its common borders with the governorate. Iraqi Anbar and the close Qaim border crossing.

Administratively

Administratively; Deir Ezzor is divided into three regions, which is: the city of Deir Ezzor: its center that includes six sub-districts: Al-Busirah, Al-Kasrah, Al-Tabni, Khusham, Mohsen and Al-Sour, and the second is Al-Mayadin: its center is the city of Al-Mayadin, and it includes two sub-districts: Al-Ashara and Dhiban, and the third is Al-Bukamal: its center is Al-Bukamal. It includes four sub-regions: Hajin, Al-Sousah, Al-Jalaa and Al-Salihiya

The residents of Deir Ezzor refer to the area east of the Euphrates River as (Al-Jazira), which is located west of the river as (Al-Shamiyah), and the Khabur River flows from Al-Hasakah and runs into the Euphrates River in the city of Al-Basrah, but it has dried up significantly due to weather factors and the building of dams by Turkey.

'resources'

The soil around the Euphrates' banks is very fertile, and supports the economy of the people of Deir Ezzor, and a variety of crops are cultivated there, such as wheat and cotton in the first class, sugar beet and corn. People of Deir Ezzor are very interested in raising poultry and livestock, which are part of Arab culture.

The city enjoys many resources, foremost, the oil and gas, agricultural wealth and water, and there is the largest stock of gas and light oil in Syria, which accounts for 24% of the Syrian oil and gas output, and there are the largest oil fields such as Al Omar, Al Taym, Al Tanak and Al Ward, and the largest of eight wells. Oil in Deir Ezzor is located in the eastern countryside of it, and one of the other underground wealth in Deir Ezzor is salt, and it is a major source of salts in Syria, especially the town of Maadan.

'Tribes'

The Deir Ezzor region has a moderate religious character, in which the Sufi movement is common, and some became involved in the Islamic movements through the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s, whose actual presence began among the tribesmen, as stated by Adnan Saad al-Din, the general observer of the Brotherhood from 1975 until the start of the confrontations with the Damascus government, which tried to spread Shiism in Deir Ezzor after 2000.

Deir Ezzor is also considered one of the tribal areas in Syria, and its major tribes are Al-Aqidat (Al-Aqeidat) and Al-Baqara.

'The al-Ageidat tribe '
it is one of the Qahtani Arabs, it is attached to Qahtan, and their main homeland is in the south of the Arabian Peninsula, and they have an extension in Iraq and Syria as well.

The tribe consists of three branches, namely, Jamal (Kamil), Jamal (Kamal) and Zamil, and among them are the following clans: the Jamal tribes, which are (Al-Bakir, Al-Shait, Al-Burahma, Al-Bu Hassan, Al-Dhahir, Al-Salih and Al-Tal` Al-Hamad in Al-Shuhail, Al-Bu Ezz Al-Din and Al-Bu Khalaf). As for the families of Al-Bu Kamal (Al-Bu Jamal), they are (Al-Hassoun, Al-Rashda, Al-Bu Marih, Al-Damim, and Al-Adhar), and as for your Zamel clans you are Al-Shaitat 

There are clans allied with the Al-Ageidat tribe, namely (Al-Shahda, Al-Bu Khabur, which includes three branches: Al-Bu Omar, Al-Buhlehel, Al-Bu Maait, Al-Bu Saraya, Al-Matrada, Al-Masasma, Al-Bu Khater, Al-Jaghaifah, Al-Bolil and Al-Qaraan).

The princes of the current Al-Ageidat tribe are Musab and Ibrahim, and the sons of Khalil Al-Aboud are Al-Jadaan Al-Hafl.

The tribe is spread on the banks of the Euphrates River, west from the village of Al-Bawaitiya in the north of Al-Bukamal in the south, at about 165 km, and on the eastern bank from the village of Jadid Aqeidat to Jabal Al-Baghouz in front of Al-Bukamal in the south, about 110 km, and it is also found on the Khabur River in 33 most of the village is from the Bukayr clan, and its density is concentrated in the cities of Al-Mayadeen and Al-Bukamal.

'The Baggara tribe'

It was attributed to the Adnani Arabs, who followed their lineage Adnan Ibn Ismail Ibn Ibrahim Al-Khalil, and the Baggara is divided into two parts: Baggara Al-Zour, due to their residence in Deir Ezzor, and Baggara Al-Jabal in relation to Jabal Abdel Aziz (Mount Kazwan).

The Baggara consists of two sub-clans, namely Abbad and Ubaid, and they are subdivided into 28 clans, namely (Al-Bu Massa`ah, Al-Bu Ma`ish, Al-Bu Arab, Al-Bu Salih, Al-Mashoor, Al-Kilizat, Al-Bu Sultan, Al-Obaidat, Al-Abed, Al-Bu Bardan, Alyan, Al-Bu Shalhoum, and Al-Hamad Al-Ubaid, " Al-Khanjar, Al-Rafei, Al-Abd Al-Jadar, Al-Rashed, Al-Manasrah, Al-Burahma, Al-Buhasan, Al-Bu Sheikh, Al-Bu Muslim, Al-Bu Allaw, Al-Bu Shams, Al-Karim and Al-Mirekhat. The Baggara tribe is now headed by Hajem Al-Bashir.

This tribe is allied with the Bu Badran tribe of the Husseinian Sadat, most of whom are Shiite.

The Baggara is spread on the left bank of the Euphrates (Al-Jazira), 70 km west of Deir Ezzor city, and 40 km east of it towards the spring of the Khabur River, and it overlaps with the al-Ageidat tribe in the village of Jadid Aqidat and Jadid al-Baggara, and majority of them live in Deir Ezzor, among them, the families of Ayesh, Ayyash and Al-Hattab, viewed as owners of Deir Ezzor.

The Baggara are concentrated in general in the villages of sub-district (Kasra and Marat), that is, from the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor to the town of Al-Busirah, from the villages of (Hussainiyya, Maishiya, Sefira Fawqana, Tahtaniyah, Hatla, Marat, Kusra, Mazloum, Khasham, Tabiya, and Saadouni) , New Baggara, Milaj Island, Buhumaid Island, Shatti, and Al-Hussan), and they extend in the pastures extending west of Deir Ezzor-Hasaka road to Jabal Abdel Aziz (Kazwan).

The Baggara tribe has an extension in the Jazira region and Aleppo, and a small extension in neighboring countries such as Jordan, Iraq and Turkey.

'The Qalai'i tribe'

As for the Qalai'in tribe, it includes the Al-Bu Khalil, Sinan, Nasser, Al-Wais and Omar, and Al-Bu Mustafa) clans, and its members live in the city of Al-Mayadin and its surroundings, and its members are also distributed between the city of Deir Ezzor in (Al-Waisat), and Al-Mayadin in (Al-Bu Mustafa and Al-Bu Khalil). Some are at the mouth of the Khabur River in the Euphrates, and are inhabited by other clans, including Al-Ani, Al-Rawawi, Al-Karabila, Al-Shahidah, Al-Sada, Qais, Turkmen, Armenians, Kurds, Aqidat, Obaid, Anza, Bu Shaban, Al Buhumaid, and Yarkas.

There are several other tribes in Deir al-Zour, such as al-Jabour, Tay, Dalim, al-Zabid, Shammar, and al-Busraya, and the clan belonging to the Shammar tribe in Deir al-Zour is the Bu Layl, and the clan belonging to the Tay tribe is al-Jawashneh, and the al-Jubur tribe is the Jaghayfa, and the Zabid tribe is al-Juhaish.

There are also clans that do not belong to the aforementioned tribes in the Deir Ezzor region, which are the Al-Boubadran clan, and reside in the northern region of the city of Al-Bukamal, the Al-Lahib clan (Laheibi), and the Al-Dhafir clan, and clans belonging to the Anza tribe such as Al-Boudbash, Al-Khabur, Al-Burbah, Al-Bu Arafat, and Al-Bu Shalhoum. In addition to some clans whose lineage is attached to (Aal al-Bayt), such as al-Muamara, al-Na'im, al-Jawwalha and al-Bawdran.

Most of the tribes of Deir Ezzor are Sunnis from the Hanafi school, in addition to the presence of a small percentage of Shiites, and according to a study conducted by the Rojava Center for Strategic Studies, there are a number of Sufi orders, such as the Naqshbandi, the Khaznawi, the Shadhiliyya and the Qadriya relative to Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, and the Rifa’a relative to Sayyid Ahmad. Al-Rifai, whose leaders are called the honorable gentlemen and whose lineage is attached to the "family of al-Bayt", are present in Deir Ezzor.

Tomorrow: Deir Ezzor ... from the rule of the Baath to Al-Nusra Front and ISIS one.

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ANHA