BEIRUT – Pro-Assad militias have reportedly engaged in fighting against each other in Syria’s Deir Ezzor, where regime forces are encircled by ISIS.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Thursday that combatants in the National Defense Force (NDF) that serves as an auxiliary for the Syrian army exchanged gunfire with members of Army of Tribes, a loyalist militia made up of members of the Al-Shaitat tribe.
The monitoring NGO tracking developments in the war-torn country did not go into details on the cause of the clashes, reporting only that a civilian was injured as a result of the firefight.
A local activist group reported that the fighting kicked off after Army of Tribes militiamen and members of the Al-Busrayah tribe in the local NDF contingent got into a “verbal argument” that degenerated into brawling and a gunfight.
The NDF rushed reinforcement to the site of the engagement to back the Al-Busrayah tribesmen, Deir Ezzor 24 also said.
“Fifty NDF members armed with heavy weapons surrounded [the area] and forced shopkeepers to close their businesses and imposed a curfew,” the report added.
Another pro-opposition outlet, 7al.me, offered a similar account of the incident, claiming that five Army of Tribes fighters beat one of the NDF members to death after cursing him and the militia’s leader, Firas Jiham.
7al.me echoed Deir Ezzor 24’s report that the NDF deployed in force at the area of the clashes along Alwadi Street, adding also that NDF members “opened fire at the [Army of Tribes] HQ, killing six members and wounding others.”
The NDF in Deir Ezzor has previously clashed with the Army of Tribes, which maintains ties with the Military Security Branch in Deir Ezzor as well as the Republican Guard forces stationed in the city, which is split between ISIS and pro-regime forces.
A Deir Ezzor resident told All4Syria that a rumor has circulated around regime-held areas of the city that the Military Security Branch purposely planned the fighting as part of a scheme to “break the power of the NDF and exact revenge” for previous rounds of fighting.
NOW's English news desk editor Albin Szakola (@AlbinSzakola) wrote this report. Amin Nasr translated Arabic-language material.
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