BEIRUT: Tribal figures linked to a US-backed alliance announced plans Monday for a council to run Syria’s Deir Ezzor, as the alliance and regime troops battle jihadists in and around the city.
Held by the Daesh group, the city is the capital of the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, regarded as a strategic prize by both Syrian troops and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.
With Russian backing, Syrian regime forces have seized western parts of the province and breached Daesh’s years-long siege on parts of the city.
SDF fighters are waging a separate offensive that has captured swathes of territory from Daesh east of the Euphrates River, which cuts across the province, but have yet to reach the city itself.
Tribal figures on Monday announced they were laying the groundwork for a civil council to run the city after Daesh’s defeat, according to a statement published by the SDF’s media office.
They called for “establishing a preparatory committee that will discuss (with the local community) the basis and starting points for a civil council for Deir Ezzor.”
Ongoing consultations would aim to reach a “formulation that will express the aspirations of all our people in Deir Ezzor.”
The future council “will be responsible for running the city immediately after its liberation,” the statement added.
It made no mention of regime forces, who are currently in control of about half of Deir Ezzor city, and did not say whether the civil council would coordinate with, or rival, government authorities.
Since 2014, Daesh has held swathes of the province and about 60 percent of its capital, encircling two regime-held enclaves in the western half of Deir Ezzor city.
Government troops have broken both jihadist sieges and were preparing on Monday to launch an offensive on the eastern districts still held by Daesh.
“Military reinforcements have been arriving since Sunday night to begin the operation to seize control of the city,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.
He said the SDF had advanced to six kilometers (four miles) from the eastern banks of the Euphrates River across from Deir Ezzor city.
The SDF’s advance is backed by the US-led coalition battling Daesh in Iraq and Syria since 2014.
The coalition, the SDF, Syria’s government and Russia have agreed on a “de-confliction line” in northeastern Syria to prevent the two offensives from clashing.
Syria tribes linked to US-backed force plan council for Deir Ezzor
Syria tribes linked to US-backed force plan council for Deir Ezzor
Trump administration labels 3 Muslim Brotherhood branches as terrorist organizations
- The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization
- “These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence,” Rubio said
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration has made good on its pledge to label three Middle Eastern branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, imposing sanctions on them and their members in a decision that could have implications for US relationships with allies Qatar and Turkiye.
The Treasury and State departments announced the actions Tuesday against the Lebanese, Jordanian and Egyptian chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood, which they said pose a risk to the United States and American interests.
The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization, the most severe of the labels, which makes it a criminal offense to provide material support to the group. The Jordanian and Egyptian branches were listed by Treasury as specially designated global terrorists for providing support to Hamas.
“These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence and destabilization wherever it occurs,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. “The United States will use all available tools to deprive these Muslim Brotherhood chapters of the resources to engage in or support terrorism.”
Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were mandated last year under an executive order signed by Trump to determine the most appropriate way to impose sanctions on the groups, which US officials say engage in or support violence and destabilization campaigns that harm the United States and other regions.
Muslim Brotherhood leaders have said they renounce violence.
Trump’s executive order had singled out the chapters in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, noting that a wing of the Lebanese chapter had launched rockets on Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel that set off the war in Gaza. Leaders of the group in Jordan have provided support to Hamas, the order said.
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 but was banned in that country in 2013. Jordan announced a sweeping ban on the Muslim Brotherhood in April.
Nathan Brown, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, said some allies of the US, including the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, would likely be pleased with the designation.
“For other governments where the brotherhood is tolerated, it would be a thorn in bilateral relations,” including in Qatar and Turkiye, he said.
Brown also said a designation on the chapters may have effects on visa and asylum claims for people entering not just the US but also Western European countries and Canada.
“I think this would give immigration officials a stronger basis for suspicion, and it might make courts less likely to question any kind of official action against Brotherhood members who are seeking to stay in this country, seeking political asylum,” he said.
Trump, a Republican, weighed whether to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization in 2019 during his first term in office. Some prominent Trump supporters, including right-wing influencer Laura Loomer, have pushed his administration to take aggressive action against the group.
Two Republican-led state governments — Florida and Texas — designated the group as a terrorist organization this year.
