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Iran’s Militias Transport Deir Ezzor Wheat to Iraq for Higher Profit

A farmer in the east of the Euphrates (Deir Ezzor 24 website)
A farmer in the east of the Euphrates (Deir Ezzor 24 website)
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Iran’s Militias Transport Deir Ezzor Wheat to Iraq for Higher Profit

A farmer in the east of the Euphrates (Deir Ezzor 24 website)
A farmer in the east of the Euphrates (Deir Ezzor 24 website)

The security branches of the Syrian regime have seized large quantities of wheat stored by farmers, and others working in the grain trade, in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, while sources confirmed that large parts of the crops would be transported to Iraq, where Iranian militias sell them at higher prices.

Sources quoted by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that the security officers confiscated more than 80 tons of wheat owned by more than 10 farmers in the area, because of their refusal to hand over the crop to the Euphrates Center.

The security branches and consumer protection committees also imposed fines on violators amounting to about 500 million Syrian pounds.

The Iranian militias, with the facilitation of the security branches, harvested agricultural crops from the lands they seized, in preparation for transferring them to Iraq to sell them at a higher price. Those lands are usually owned by families, who fled the area during the control of militias in 2017.

In order to tighten control over sales operations, close all outlets to farmers and prevent the exit of crops to other Syrian governorates, the militias prevent farmers from selling their produce in the free market.

SOHR reported that farmers who objected these measures were subjected to arrest and threats.

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Kurdish Fighters Leave Northern City in Syria as Part of Deal with Central Government

A first contingent of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters leave Aleppo, headed for SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 04 April 2025. (EPA)
A first contingent of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters leave Aleppo, headed for SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 04 April 2025. (EPA)
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Kurdish Fighters Leave Northern City in Syria as Part of Deal with Central Government

A first contingent of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters leave Aleppo, headed for SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 04 April 2025. (EPA)
A first contingent of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters leave Aleppo, headed for SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 04 April 2025. (EPA)

Scores of US-backed Kurdish fighters left two neighborhoods in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo Friday as part of a deal with the central government in Damascus, which is expanding its authority in the country.

The fighters left the predominantly Kurdish northern neighborhoods of Sheikh Maksoud and Achrafieh, which had been under the control of Kurdish fighters in Aleppo over the past decade.

The deal is a boost to an agreement reached last month between Syria’s interim government and the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast. The deal could eventually lead to the merger of the main US-backed force in Syria into the Syrian army.

The withdrawal of fighters from the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) came a day after dozens of prisoners from both sides were freed in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city.

Syria’s state news agency, SANA, reported that government forces were deployed along the road that SDF fighters will use to move between Aleppo and areas east of the Euphrates River, where the Kurdish-led force controls nearly a quarter of Syria.

Sheikh Maksoud and Achrafieh had been under SDF control since 2015 and remained so even when forces of ousted President Bashar al-Assad captured Aleppo in late 2016. The two neighborhoods remained under SDF control when forces loyal to current interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa captured the city in November, and days later captured the capital, Damascus, removing Assad from power.

After being marginalized for decades under the rule of the Assad family rule, the deal signed last month promises Syria’s Kurds “constitutional rights,” including using and teaching their language, which were banned for decades.

Hundreds of thousands of Kurds, who were displaced during Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war, will return to their homes. Thousands of Kurds living in Syria who have been deprived of nationality for decades under Assad will be given the right of citizenship, according to the agreement.

Kurds made up 10% of the country’s prewar population of 23 million. Kurdish leaders say they don’t want full autonomy with their own government and parliament. They want decentralization and room to run their day-to day-affairs.