Syria: As Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) violence worsens, Deir Ezzor’s tribes prepare for fight
After the Sunni militants reportedly execute more than 20 members of the Sheitaat, tribes in the province are gearing up to take on ISIS. Are they strong enough to stop the advance?
On Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-backed monitoring group, said that fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria had beheaded two men from the Sheitaat tribe, in the Deir Ezzor village of Shaafa, on the banks of the Euphrates. It also said 19 other Sheitaat fighters had been executed by the group earlier in the week.
The Sheitaat have been described as a “pocket of resistance” to ISIS’s increasingly brutal methods of oppression in Syria’s eastern province. In recent weeks, ISIS has stepped up its intimidation campaign in areas that oppose their rule, with reports of beheadings and crucifixions.
Syria’s eastern tribes are considered the last group that could pose a serious threat to ISIS’s control of Deir Ezzor. Tribes make up about 15 percent of the Syrian population, with a vast number living in rural areas.