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US-led Coalition Urges Calm in Northeast Syria After Clashes Between Arab Tribes, Kurdish-Led Force 

Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces. (SDF on Facebook, file photo)
Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces. (SDF on Facebook, file photo)
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US-led Coalition Urges Calm in Northeast Syria After Clashes Between Arab Tribes, Kurdish-Led Force 

Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces. (SDF on Facebook, file photo)
Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces. (SDF on Facebook, file photo)

The US-led coalition fighting the ISIS group called on Thursday for an end to clashes in northeast Syria, where the Kurdish-led force it backs has been locked in deadly fighting with Arab tribes.

"The violence in northeast Syria must cease," the coalition said in a statement, saying that "distractions" from fighting ISIS sleeper cells risked a resurgence of the group.

Clashes broke out on Sunday after the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces arrested Ahmad Al Khubail, alias Abu Khawla, who headed its Deir Ezzor Council.

At least 40 fighters from both sides and another 15 civilians have been killed in the violence, according to local sources and witnesses.

The US-led coalition helped the SDF - which includes a smaller Arab component - oust ISIS from swathes of territory in northern and eastern Syria over the last seven years.

ISIS lost its last territorial bastion of Baghouz, which lies in Deir Ezzor, in 2019 to the SDF. IS still operates sleeper cells across parts of Syria and have waged hit-and-run attacks.

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Iraq’s Sadr to Boycott Elections, Says Doesn’t Want to Work with ‘Corrupt’ Figures

Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr shows his ink-stained finger after casting his vote at a polling station in Najaf, Iraq, in May 2018. (Reuters)
Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr shows his ink-stained finger after casting his vote at a polling station in Najaf, Iraq, in May 2018. (Reuters)
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Iraq’s Sadr to Boycott Elections, Says Doesn’t Want to Work with ‘Corrupt’ Figures

Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr shows his ink-stained finger after casting his vote at a polling station in Najaf, Iraq, in May 2018. (Reuters)
Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr shows his ink-stained finger after casting his vote at a polling station in Najaf, Iraq, in May 2018. (Reuters)

Head of Iraq’s Sadrist movement influential cleric Moqtada al-Sadr announced on Friday that he was boycotting the upcoming parliamentary elections, citing the involvement of “corrupt” figures in the process.

“Let everyone know that as long as corruption exists, I will not take part in any flawed electoral process that only concerns itself with sectarian and partisan interests, not the people’s suffering and all the catastrophes going on in the region,” he added.

“Dragging Iraq and its people into needless conflicts is the primary reason for these catastrophes,” he went on to say.

Sadr therefore called on his supporters to refrain from voting or running in the elections.

“What point is there in taking part in rule with corrupt figures?” he wondered.

Earlier in March, Sadr had invited former MPs from the Sadr bloc to a Ramadan iftar, fueling speculation that he was going to end his boycott of political life. Some 200 Sadrist MPs, who had run for election between 2005 and 2018, attended the iftar.

Shiite parties, most notably Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and former PM Nouri al-Maliki, were seeking rapprochement with Sadr in the hopes of forging an alliance in the elections.