US-backed Kurdish Fighters Say Battles with Tribesmen in Eastern Syria that Killed Dozens Have Ended

A fighter of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) loads a machine gun belt onto a turret along a technical vehicle as others deploy to impose a curfew in the town of al-Busayrah in Syria's northeastern Deir Ezzor province on September 4, 2023. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
A fighter of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) loads a machine gun belt onto a turret along a technical vehicle as others deploy to impose a curfew in the town of al-Busayrah in Syria's northeastern Deir Ezzor province on September 4, 2023. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
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US-backed Kurdish Fighters Say Battles with Tribesmen in Eastern Syria that Killed Dozens Have Ended

A fighter of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) loads a machine gun belt onto a turret along a technical vehicle as others deploy to impose a curfew in the town of al-Busayrah in Syria's northeastern Deir Ezzor province on September 4, 2023. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
A fighter of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) loads a machine gun belt onto a turret along a technical vehicle as others deploy to impose a curfew in the town of al-Busayrah in Syria's northeastern Deir Ezzor province on September 4, 2023. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)

A US-backed Syrian force declared its operations in eastern Syria completed Friday after almost two weeks of fighting with local tribesmen left dozens of people dead.
The Syrian Democratic Forces said the fighting ended with its recapture of areas in Deir el-Zour province that the Kurdish-led force had lost during the battles triggered by the arrest of a rival US-backed commander.
The clashes were among the worst in recent years in the region along the border with Iraq where hundreds of US troops have been based since 2015 to help in the fight against the ISIS extremist group, The Associated Press said.
Many feared the fighting between the rival Syrian militias that broke out on Aug. 27 would affect the efforts to combat ISIS. Earlier this week, the SDF took control of the areas it lost during the recent clashes.
The SDF said the fighting left 25 of its fighters dead in addition to 29 members of rival groups and tribal gunmen. It said nine civilians were also killed and accused government forces of helping to incite the violence. The Kurdish-led force said it captured 21 fighters.
Earlier Friday, the SDF said its fighters had detained a senior official with the ISIS group who was in charge of financing and arming sleeper cells.
Despite the ISIS group's defeat in Syria in March 2019, ISIS sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in Syria and in neighboring Iraq. The extremists once controlled wide areas and declared a caliphate in the two countries.
The SDF said its members, with the support of the US-led coalition against the ISIS group and the Counter Terrorism Group in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, apprehended senior ISIS financier Abdul-Ghafour Taber al-Diab, also known as Abu Amir.
He was detained Thursday in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, which was once seen as the capital of the extremists, according to the SDF.
“He was responsible for financing the ISIS terrorist cells and their terrorist acts in the region, supplying them with weapons,” the group said in a terse statement.
In other parts of Syria, hundreds of people took part in anti-government protests in the southern city of Sweida, tearing down pictures of President Bashar Assad from a state institution. The demonstrations were sparked by worsening living conditions and inflation that surged after Assad’s decision last month to double public sector wages and pensions.
The protests in Sweida province, where Druze people represent the majority of the population, are now in their third week. Surging inflation and the war-torn country’s spiraling economy initially drove the demonstrations but quickly shifted to marchers calling for the fall of Assad’s government.
Sweida province has largely avoided the fighting of Syria’s 12-year civil war, which has killed a half-million people, wounded hundreds of thousands and left parts of the country destroyed. The conflict has displaced half of Syria's prewar population of 23 million, including more than 5 million who are refugees outside the country.
The Druze made up about 5% of Syria’s prewar population and are split between supporters and opponents of President Bashar Assad



Hamas Official Says Group Open to Freeing Hostages, Five-Year Truce in Gaza

08 February 2025, Palestinian Territories, Deir al-Balah: Fighter of the Ezzeddine al-Qassam brigades, the military wing of Hamas hand over Israeli Hostages Or Levy (R), Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in the fifth batch of the first phase of the ceasefire exchange deal. (dpa)
08 February 2025, Palestinian Territories, Deir al-Balah: Fighter of the Ezzeddine al-Qassam brigades, the military wing of Hamas hand over Israeli Hostages Or Levy (R), Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in the fifth batch of the first phase of the ceasefire exchange deal. (dpa)
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Hamas Official Says Group Open to Freeing Hostages, Five-Year Truce in Gaza

08 February 2025, Palestinian Territories, Deir al-Balah: Fighter of the Ezzeddine al-Qassam brigades, the military wing of Hamas hand over Israeli Hostages Or Levy (R), Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in the fifth batch of the first phase of the ceasefire exchange deal. (dpa)
08 February 2025, Palestinian Territories, Deir al-Balah: Fighter of the Ezzeddine al-Qassam brigades, the military wing of Hamas hand over Israeli Hostages Or Levy (R), Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in the fifth batch of the first phase of the ceasefire exchange deal. (dpa)

Hamas is open to an agreement to end the Gaza war that would include the one-time release of all remaining hostages and a five-year cessation of hostilities, an official from the Palestinian group said Saturday.

"Hamas is ready for an exchange of prisoners in a single batch and a truce for five years," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity, as a delegation from his group was set to meet mediators in Cairo later in the day.

On April 17, Hamas, which opposes a "partial" ceasefire agreement, rejected an Israeli proposal that included a 45-day truce in exchange for the return of 10 living hostages.

The group has consistently demanded that a truce agreement must lead to the end of the war, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a prisoner exchange, and the immediate and sufficient entry of humanitarian aid into the war-battered Palestinian territory.

Israel, for its part, demands the return of all hostages and the disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza -- the latter being a "red line" for the movement.

The war was triggered by Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the death of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official figures.

Of the 251 people taken hostage that day, 58 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 who are dead, according to the Israeli army.

A truce from January 19 to March 17 allowed the return of 33 hostages to Israel, including eight who were deceased, in exchange for the release of about 1,800 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.

According to figures published by the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, at least 2,062 Palestinians have been killed since the Israeli offensive resumed on March 18, bringing the total death toll in Gaza to 51,439 since the start of the war.