Thread by @shellykittleson

I have been reporting on these protests against the #SDF and the #Deir al-Zor region for years. I was one of the few to independently report from the area in 2019, a few months after the Baghouz was liberated from #IS (#ISIS).

Thread with links:

https://twitter.com/OALD24/status/1436650355476115460

Mine from 2019: "...diesel is three times as expensive in Shuhail as it is in the Kurdish-dominant north, despite the proximity of key oil fields, and that this price gouging is only one of many ways the US-backed SDF is making local residents desperate"

al-monitor.com/originals/2019…

"....that doesn't justify what [the SDF is] doing. A 70-year-old man was killed. Four young men who had fought IS in the ranks of the SDF and two civilians were [killed] too. Why?”

Male relatives of those killed in a mysterious raid May 9 agreed to meet May 20 with Al-Monitor"

"A meeting between the SDF and the dominant tribe, the Oegaidat, was held following the raid in a bid to defuse tension (...) '[The SDF] told us protesting was prohibited,” one of the young men said, adding, “We can't say anything against them. They are ruling by fear.' "

Also 2019: "The Shaitat (...) rose up against IS, an ID showing they were from the area often meant a death sentence at checkpoints. Thousands are said to still be missing (...) where the severed heads of Shaitat “rebels” had been placed on a wall"
al-monitor.com/originals/2019…

"One of the men accompanying him said that he had been given a 20-year sentence — the maximum in SDF areas, which do not have the death penalty even for IS leaders — by the SDF for being part of a patrol that killed an alleged IS fighter"

al-monitor.com/originals/2019…

I also reported on the aftermath of the 2014 massacre in 2015, speaking to several relatives of victims of those who fled.

al-monitor.com/originals/2015…

2020 interview with Deir al-Zor civil council chief: "between the SDF and locals that often do not trust the Kurdish-led group, which many continue to refer to as “PKK” (...) and claim that the leadership is “from Qandil,” “occupiers” of Arab land"

al-monitor.com/originals/2020…

Late 2020: "Protests have been held repeatedly by inhabitants for over a year in the governorate (...) A lack of independent access to the area has long distorted the information reaching beyond the governorate’s borders" al-monitor.com/originals/2020…

Earlier this year: "A murky Jan. 30 apparent assassination attempt (...) still hangs heavily, however. Some residents of the Arab region say they believe the SDF planned the attack to get rid of Youssef, who is a leading proponent of the plan"

al-monitor.com/originals/2021…

"..a witness firsthand to such a case when she was reporting from the region in December and several Arab men were arrested by the SDF, allegedly for organizing protests (...)said that things do not align with the version of events put out by the SDF media"al-monitor.com/originals/2021…