Clan’s notables warn of sedition schemes planned by Damascus

Clans’ notables have warned of the sedition attempts that the Damascus government is trying to fabricate by relying on some personalities that describe themselves as representatives of the Arab clans, and they stressed that those are weak-spirited and run after money.

17 February, 2021 03:44

NEWS DESK - AHMED MOHAMED

With the continued attacks and threats of the Turkish occupation army on the Syrian geography, the Damascus government continues its exclusionary policies in an attempt to return the country to before the popular movement of March 2011, by rejecting all efforts and initiatives that would solve the Syrian crisis politically, and preferring the military option that it has relied on since Mid 2011.

In a new step by the Damascus government in this context vis-à-vis the regions of north and east Syria, it pushed its security institutions to escalate their actions and provocations, and their attempts to incite clans against each other and stir up discord among the co-existing components.

The government of Damascus, supported by Russia and regional powers at the current stage, is playing through its officials on the national and sectarian chord, in an effort to undermine the co-existence in the region, and it intends to incite Arab tribes against the Autonomous Administration.

Policies passed under the regime's mantle

Regarding this policy, Thabet Hammad Al-Eid, a prominent leader of the Shaitat tribe in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, said, “There is no longer anything that is known as the regime, whatever remained is formalistic and passes these policies under its mantle.”

He continued by saying, “All that we are witnessing in the region is the policy of Russia and Iran, who are the ones directly supervise the country's policy and its military aspects, in addition to tampering with its property.”

Regarding the meetings that the Damascus government holds with those who describe themselves as representatives of the Arab tribes, Al-Eid added, “Those who hold meetings in Deir Ezzor, al-Hasakah and others are the Iranian militias, and officials in the militias affiliated with Russia because Syria has become occupied, and the Syrian regime no longer possesses the reins, and those who join these meetings are weak people seeking money.”

Observers believe that the aforementioned escalation began with the arrival of Ghassan Khalil, the security man of the security institutions of the Damascus government to the regions of north and east Syria in June of last year, based on the decree No. 131 issued by al-Assad in May of 2020, appointing Ghassan Halim Khalil instead of Jayez al-Musa as governor of al-Hasakah governorate.

Ghassan Halim Khalil is a retired major general and enjoys a strong relationship with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and he comes from the countryside of Tartus, born in 1975.

He served as the Head of Information Branch “255” in the State Security Agency for a period of 3 years since 2011, and he undertook the task of following up the information of the media outlets, and was responsible for most of the Damascus government media, following up the affairs of religions and political parties, and his name was associated with several crimes committed against civilians during his tenure in this branch Included in the reports of Human Rights Watch Organization.

Separated areas of north and east Syria witnessed, with his arrival, many cases of the National Defense Militia intentionally straining the security of the region, targeting the Internal Security Forces' stationing points in the cities of Qamishlo and al-Hasakah, and imposing a siege on al-Shahba areas.

In order to cover up the policy of undermining the security and stability of the region, the Damascus government has made of its nationalist slogans such as “the sovereignty of the Syrian lands, popular resistance, the fight against the American occupation,” and linking the Autonomous Administration and SDF with the Kurds, as a hedge of it, taking advantage of what it describes as sheikhs and notables of Arab tribes.

Damascus policy depends on stirring up discord

Regarding what the region is witnessing, Fares Shamo, the Yazidi notable said, "The regime from the beginning has deliberately stirred up discord in the Kurdish regions in north-east Syria, by Arabizing the Kurdish regions through the Arab belt, and seized Kurdish property for the benefit of other components, in an effort to take advantage of them to tighten its control.”

He pointed out that the policy of the Damascus government today depends on stirring up discord among the components, in an effort to target co-existence, peoples’ brotherhood and civil peace, through statements of those whom it describes as elders of clans, holding frequent meetings for those figures, and moving their men in the region to target officials and military forces.

The Damascus government also relied on not recognizing the curricula of the Autonomous Administration through the Kurdish National Council, and demanded the council to get back the Damascus government’s curricula.

Regarding the recent movement in the region in this endeavor, Fares Shamo said, “The demand for the return of the regime's curricula after years has passed since these curricula were taught in the Autonomous Administration schools, and raising them at the current stage aim at destabilizing the region's security.”

He added, “Raising the issue of curricula and inciting the people at the current stage will not serve the components of the region, rather, it will serve the regime's policy and its supporters first of all, so everyone should be careful not to serve the enemies of the region.”

Shamo called on the religious and national components to join hands and close ranks, and to reject the figures aiming at sedition and calling for fighting. He said, “The regime and its supporters should not be given the opportunity to stir up sedition and push the region into any kind of sectarian or tribal fighting.”

D.H