Syria’s leading Islamist rebel group Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) says it has seized control of the key eastern city of Deir el-Zour from Kurdish forces.
The Kurdish-led, and US-backed, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) took control of the city from government forces on December 6th.
Deir el-Zour is the biggest city in eastern Syria and is a center of oil production. HTS fighters say they also want to advance to other cities east of the Euphrates river that are still under Kurdish control.
The SDF are a coalition of primarily Kurdish fighters, alongside Arabs and other ethnic groups, that have emerged during Syria’s civil war.
Formed in 2015, the SDF operates under the leadership of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and has received significant support from the US, particularly in the campaign against the so-called Islamic State.
After IS was largely defeated, the Kurdish-led forces consolidated control over towns in the northeast, expanding an autonomous region they had built there.
However, Kurdish fighters still contend with their longtime enemy, Turkey, which sees them as an extension of a Kurdish separatist insurgency and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
We spoke to Middle East analyst Giorgio Cafiero on the latest developments.
00:00 HTS rebels take city from Kurdish fighters
00:38 Middle East analyst Giorgio Cafiero explains HTS takeover
#syria #deirelzour #kurdish
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