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Clashes in Kurdish-held East Syria Kill 13 Fighters, Says Monitor

A fighter from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) participates in a demonstration in the northeastern Syrian Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli on December 28, 2018 - AFP
A fighter from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) participates in a demonstration in the northeastern Syrian Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli on December 28, 2018 - AFP
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Clashes in Kurdish-held East Syria Kill 13 Fighters, Says Monitor

A fighter from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) participates in a demonstration in the northeastern Syrian Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli on December 28, 2018 - AFP
A fighter from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) participates in a demonstration in the northeastern Syrian Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli on December 28, 2018 - AFP

Thirteen people have been killed in clashes in Kurdish-held eastern Syria between US-backed fighters and members of an affiliated group whose leader was arrested two days ago, a war monitor reported Tuesday.

"Ten local fighters and three members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were killed" in the clashes which began on Monday in several villages in the east of Deir Ezzor province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The US-backed, Kurdish-led SDF spearheaded the battle that dislodged ISIS group militants from the last scraps of territory they controlled in Syria in 2019.

The affiliated group, the Deir Ezzor Military Council, is led by Ahmad al-Khabil, also known as Abu Khawla, who was arrested in the city of Hasakah late Sunday, the Observatory said.

The move sparked tensions that deteriorated into clashes after gunmen attacked SDF positions, added the Britain-based Observatory, which has a network of sources inside Syria.

The charges against Khabil were not immediately clear, however the Observatory and an activist told AFP he was known to have been involved in smuggling and had amassed considerable wealth over the years.

The Deir Ezzor Military Council, one of several Arab groups affiliated with the SDF, is responsible for security in parts of Arab-majority Deir Ezzor province.

"What's happening today is a settling of scores," said Omar Abu Layla, an activist who heads the DeirEzzor24 media platform.

"Corrupt commanders felt they were in danger after Abu Khawla was arrested and have tried to turn it into a tribal and Arab issue in order to protect themselves," he added, warning that the unrest could "negatively impact the region".

The SDF has not commented, but said in a statement that it had launched "an operation to bolster security" on Monday in Deir Ezzor province against ISIS and "criminals... involved in drug trafficking and benefiting from arms smuggling".

The operation was continuing "in order to arrest those involved in criminal activity", added the statement.

Syria's war has killed more than half a million people since it broke out in 2011, escalating into a deadly conflict that pulled in foreign powers and militants insurgents.

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Arab World

Opposition Candidates File Court Appeal Questioning Algerian Presidential Election Outcome 

Algerian presidential candidate Youcef Aouchiche speaks during a press conference in Algiers on September 9, 2024. (AFP)
Algerian presidential candidate Youcef Aouchiche speaks during a press conference in Algiers on September 9, 2024. (AFP)
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Opposition Candidates File Court Appeal Questioning Algerian Presidential Election Outcome 

Algerian presidential candidate Youcef Aouchiche speaks during a press conference in Algiers on September 9, 2024. (AFP)
Algerian presidential candidate Youcef Aouchiche speaks during a press conference in Algiers on September 9, 2024. (AFP)

The two opposition candidates who ran in Algeria's presidential race legally challenged on Tuesday the provisional result while harshly rebuking election officials and disputing the vote count.

Islamist Abdellali Hassani Cherif and socialist Youcef Aouchiche filed appeals with Algeria's Constitutional Court, taking the first step required to challenge the results of the election, which incumbent President Abdelmadjid Tebboune won with a 94.7% share of the vote.

Algerian law provides the court 10 days from the announcement of provisional election results to rule on the appeals. A verdict could require the election authority to recalculate each candidate’s totals without calling into question Tebboune’s victory, for which he has already begun receiving congratulatory messages from Algeria’s foreign allies.

A day before lodging their appeals, both candidates took aim at Mohamed Charfi, the President of Algeria’s National Independent Electoral Authority (ANIE) for how the results of Saturday’s election were reported.

"President Tebboune didn’t need this stuffing. We knew he’d be reelected, but with these results, ANIE hasn’t done him any favors," Cherif said. "We want our votes — the votes of the people who voted for us — to be returned to us. I know it won’t change the outcome of the vote, but it will go down in history."

Meanwhile, Aouchiche held a news conference where his campaign manager showed graphics that he said proved the results had been distorted and called the outcome a "shameful and gross manipulation."

"These results, which do not correspond at all to the number of votes communicated to us by the regional delegations of the same ANIE, are a disgrace for the Algeria of 2024, taking us back to the 1970s," he said, referencing a time when the country's only legal political party ran its chosen candidate unopposed.

The two challengers have taken issue with discrepancies between the number of votes used to tally the results and the turnout figures that election officials published a day earlier. Late Sunday, Tebboune joined them in denouncing ANIE, aligning himself with popular anger that his challengers had drummed up against it.

In a shared statement, campaign managers for Tebboune, Aouchiche and Cherif called into question the results that ANIE had reported and how they didn't correspond with the regional figures that local authorities had reported.

"We inform national public opinion that inaccuracies, contradictions, ambiguities and inconsistencies were noted in the figures when the provisional results of the presidential election were announced by the chairman of the National Independent Election Authority," they wrote.