BEIRUT: Sporadic clashes took place on Saturday in a Kurdish-held area of eastern Syria, a monitor said, after a curfew was imposed following the arrest of an Arab armed group’s leader.
Fighting erupted in the Kurdish-controlled areas of Deir Ezzor province on Monday after the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) detained Ahmad Al-Khabil, the head of the Deir Ezzor Military Council.
The violence has so far killed 54 people, including six children, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor.
“Calm has been relatively restored, as the intensity of fighting has decreased due to the 48-hour curfew” that took effect on Saturday, the Observatory’s Rami Abdel Rahman said, adding that clashes were continuing “intermittently in three villages.”
The largely Arab-majority province to the east of the Euphrates is controlled by the SDF, while forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad and Iran-affiliated fighters are stationed on the west bank.
Kurdish authorities manage areas under their control through local civilian and military councils, to avoid upsetting local Arab tribes.
In a statement on Saturday, the SDF criticized “propaganda whose sole aim is to sow discord and break the unity of the SDF and the local Arab population.”
“Contrary to what is being said, there is no dispute between the SDF and the tribes in the region. We are in constant contact with them,” it said.
SDF spokesman Farhad Shami said the clashes were mostly “against elements of the regime and some beneficiaries” of Khabil.
The SDF says Khabil was arrested for communicating with Assad’s government, alleged drug trafficking and mismanagement leading to an uptick in activities by cells of Daesh militant group, among other things.
Tensions rose when pro-regime fighters, backed by Iran, took advantage of the clashes to move into two Kurdish-controlled villages, the Observatory said.
The US-backed SDF, which controls vast territories in northeastern Syria, spearheaded the offensive that defeated Daesh in Syria in 2019.
Clashes hit Kurdish-held east Syria after curfew
https://arab.news/2ms7u
Clashes hit Kurdish-held east Syria after curfew
- The violence has so far killed 54 people, including six children, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
- Kurdish authorities manage areas under their control through local civilian and military councils, to avoid upsetting local Arab tribes
UN chief appoints Finland’s Haavisto as personal envoy for Sudan
- Former Finnish FM has extensive experience in mediation in the Horn of Africa and Middle East
- Haavisto was Finland’s minister of foreign affairs from 2019-23
NEW YORK: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed Pekka Haavisto, the former Finnish foreign minister, as his personal envoy for Sudan, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday.
Haavisto succeeds Ramtane Lamamra of Algeria and brings more than 40 years of experience in politics and international affairs to the role, having previously held ministerial positions in Finland’s government as well as senior positions with the EU and UN. He is currently a member of the Finnish parliament.
Haavisto was Finland’s minister of foreign affairs from 2019-23. From 2016-19, he was president of the European Institute of Peace. He has also held the ministerial portfolios of development cooperation, state ownership, and the environment. Haavisto was elected to the Finnish parliament in 1987.
The new personal envoy has broad experience in mediation and negotiation processes in the Horn of Africa and the Middle East, and has worked extensively with the UN, said Dujarric.
From 2009-17, he was special representative to the Finnish foreign minister for mediation and crisis management in Africa. Between 2005 and 2007, Haavisto was the EU special representative for Sudan, where he took part in the Darfur peace negotiations. During that period, he also acted as a UN senior adviser to the Darfur peace process.
Haavisto worked for the UN Environment Programme from 1999 to 2005, including assignments in Iraq, the Palestinian territories, Liberia, and Sudan.
Asked why Lamamra had stepped down, Dujarric said that it was a “joint decision” between the Algerian envoy and the secretary-general.
