Sunni tribes protest against Kurds in Syria

Dozens of Syrian Sunnis protested on Friday against the hostile practices of the Kurdish Units for the Protection of the Kurdish People in Tal Abyad neighbourhood, in the countryside to the north east of Al-Raqqa, Anadolu has reported. Such units form the military wing of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party.

According to Anadolu, the protestors condemned the practices of the Kurds, including the “enforced displacement of civilians and arbitrary arrests.” They called for the “immediate return of the displaced civilians and release of prisoners.”

Activist Abu-Mo’az Al-Riqqawi told Anadolu that the residents of the villages of Al-Sokariyeh, and Hammam Al-Torkman, along with people displaced from Sallouk and other villages near Al-Raqqa took part in the demonstrations against the Kurdish units.

The protestors, he said, responded to a call from the tribes of Al-Raqqa. He noted that all of the protesters were Arabs and supporters of the Army of the Tribes rebel group. They also protested against the Kurdish ban on Arabs returning to their villages, which they left during attacks by Daesh.

Anadolu said that the Congress of Al-Raqqa Tribes has previously issued a statement in which the ban on the return of the Arabs to their villages when Daesh have left was described as a form of “systematic and organised ethnic cleansing.” The statement also called for the Kurdish Units to hand control of the neighbourhood of Tal Abyad to the people.

In June, the Kurdish Units drove Daesh out of Tal Abyad with help from the international coalition but, they will not allow the displaced Arabs to return to their homes.