THE RESTRUCTURE OF THE SELF- ADMINISTRATION IN DEIR-EZ-ZOR SITUATION REPORT 21 September 2020 Contents Key Points ......................................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Background....................................................................................................................................... 3 Proposed structure ........................................................................................................................ 5 Current progress ............................................................................................................................ 7 Analysis and forecasting............................................................................................................... 9 Humanitarian impact .................................................................................................................. 10 MERCY CORPS HUMANITARIAN ACCESS THE RESTRUCTURE OF THE SELF- ADMINISTRATION IN DEIR-EZ-ZOR 1 KEY POINTS There has been growing demand from the local Arab population in eastern Deir-ez-Zor for greater political representation and participation. Commander in chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi, held a meeting with the heads of the Deir-ez-Zor military civil councils to resume restructuring of the civil administration in Deir-ez-Zor. The new structure proposes dividing Deir-ez-Zor governorate into three main administrative regions; form a local sub-civil council in each of the administrative regions; and conduct a review and possibly restructure the Deir-ez-Zor legislative and civil councils. The complex tribal structure of Deir-ez-Zor resulted in amending the boundaries of the three administrative regions and could possibly lead to establishing a fourth one. The restructuring, if implemented, can reduce the tribal tension in Deir-ez-Zor and improve access to local humanitarian and civil society organization MERCY CORPS HUMANITARIAN ACCESS THE RESTRUCTURE OF THE SELF- ADMINISTRATION IN DEIR-EZ-ZOR 1 to hand over the management of the Arab- INTRODUCTION majority region to the Arab representatives in the area. In response, the US-led IC Eastern Deir-ez-Zor is currently under the representatives agreed to push forward earlier administrative control of the largely Kurdish-led promises of an administrative restructuring of self-administration and the military control of its civil administration of Deir-ez-Zor with a view to armed forces, the Syrian Democratic Forces better enfranchising Arab communities through (SDF). Several actors have demanded greater local council structures. participation of the Arab population within the administrative and governing bodies. Soon after, and on 17 August 2019, the SDF Additionally, since August 2020, tension Commander in Chief, Mazloum Abdi, held a between the SDF and Deir-ez-Zor tribes, meeting with the Chairman of Deir-ez-Zor particularly the Aqeedat tribe, have escalated military council, Ahmad Al-Khabil (known as Abu following the assassination of three prominent Khawla), and the co-president of the Deir-ez-Zor Aqeedat tribal leaders. This prompted local civil council, Dr. Ghassan Al-Youssef, alongside protests against the SDF across Deir-ez-Zor.1 several military leaders. In the meeting, finalization of the restructuring of the Deir-ez- The violent nature of the protests, which Zor civil administration was called for, with a 15 included an attack on SDF headquarters un March 2020 deadline. Hawayej (Hawayej subdistrict), prompted an armed reaction from the SDF’s Internal Security This step comes as an attempt to reduce the Forces (ISF) – previously known as Asayish – who growing tension between both the local tribes fired live bullets into the air to disperse and between tribes and the Kurdish-majority protestors; injuring eleven in the town of self-administration. If implemented, the Hawayej. restructuring could lead to a significant improvement in access to local humanitarian and The SDF and International Coalition (IC) sought civil society organizations, ending the movement to de-escalate the situation in Deir-ez-Zor restrictions imposed on some organizations through reconciliation meetings with tribal across the Deir-ez-Zor governorate. leaders – particularly those from the Aqeedat tribe – and on 6 August, IC representatives held a meeting with a delegation of tribal leaders at BACKGROUND the Al-Omar oil field in eastern Deir-ez-Zor. Local sources reported that during the meeting, In August 2019, the US State Department sought tribal leaders called on coalition representatives to amend the structure of the civil 1 On 2 August, the Al-Aqeedat Tribe announced the assassination of Sheikh Motshar Hamoud Al-Jadaan Al-Haval and the attempted assassination (and subsequent wounding) of Sheikh Ibrahim Khalil Abboud Al-Jadaan in Hawayej, Hawayej subdistrict. Earlier, on 31 July, masked gunmen assassinated Aalawi Salman Al-Weis, a prominent figure of the Al-Baqara tribe, in the town of Dahleh, Khasham subdistrict. MERCY CORPS HUMANITARIAN ACCESS THE RESTRUCTURE OF THE SELF-ADMINISTRATION IN DEIR-EZ-ZOR 3 administration in the Deir-ez-Zor governorate in Hassan Cougar, political advisor to the self- response to several complaints from sheiks and administration in Deir-ez-Zor, assembled a leaders from the Aqeedat tribe (one of two main delegation consisting of representatives of the tribes in Deir-ez-Zor governorate). The Baqarah tribe (Iyad Al-Khalaf, Ahmed Al-Ayed, complaints related to leadership within Deir-ez- Muhammad Al-Muhaimid, and Ramadan Al- Zor's civil administration, and focused on the Habash) and representatives of the Deir-ez-Zor largely Kurdish management, with the limited legislative council (Thamer al-Shammari and Arab representation coming from the Baqarah Muhammad al-Rajab), a representative of the tribe.2 Shaitat clan (Abd al-Razzaq al-Rahim) and a representative Aqeedat tribe to meet with the The restructuring initiative has caused friction International Coalition advisor, William Robak, with many Kurdish individuals, most notably to discuss the details of the restructuring Haval Hamza, general supervisor of civil process.5,6,7,8,9 administration, Haval Rojhat, supervisor of municipalities, and Haval Farzat, supervisor of The meeting led to the formation of a committee oil wells, all in Deir-ez-Zor. Several members of (hereafter referred to as the restructuring the Deir-ez-Zor administration have also committee) tasked with finalizing the expressed their concern, including Ghassan Al- restructuring process of the civil administration Youssef, chairman of the civil council, and his in Deir-ez-Zor.10 The committee began deputy Abdul Razzaq Al-Rahim, Jihad Al-Luji, conducting meetings with local stakeholders and chairman of the services committee, and Kamal tribal leaders before coming to halt due to the Al-Mousa, chairman of the education Turkish-led Peace Spring military operation and committee.3,4 the sudden, partial withdrawal of US forces in late October 2019. Despite the resentment, with pressure from the US State Department, Haval Hamza and Haval 2 Local sources reported that almost 70% of the Arab staff in the Deir-ez-Zor civil administration are members of the Baqarah tribe. 3 Local sources reported that some Kurdish officials tried to convince their representatives against the proposed restructuring. This was confirmed by some members of the Legislative Council who have good relations with Haval Hamza. 4 Haval means ‘friend’ in Kurdish. They are usually members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) or the Democratic Union Party (PYD), and control the decisions and policies of civil and military administration bodies in the region. 5 Iyad Al-Khalaf is a deserted Syrian army colonel from the al-Baqarah tribe and was a member of the legislative council. 6 Muhammad Al-Muhaimid and Ramadan Al-Habash are both from the Al-Obeidat clan of the al-Baqarah tribe and are notables in the town of Kisreh . 7 Thamer al-Shammari and Muhammad al-Rajab are founding members of the Kurdish-led Future for Syria political party. 8 Abdul Razzaq Al-Rahim is the Deputy of Ghassan Al-Youssef, the president of the Deir-ez-Zor civil council (The Executive Office). 9 Enab Baladi, After a report on the exclusion of the Arab component ... an American official meets with the head of Deir Ezzor Civil Council,’ May 2020. 10 The committee consists of Haval Hamzah, general supervisor of civil administration, Haval Hassan Cougar, political advisor, Haval Bregen, reportedly a supervisor of the women’s committee, members of the legislative council such as Thamer Al-Shammari, Muhammad Al-Rajab, Dhiab Al-Jilat and, Rahma Al- Ahmad, and members of the Deir-ez-Zor women’s committee including Shehrazad Al-Jasem. MERCY CORPS HUMANITARIAN ACCESS THE RESTRUCTURE OF THE SELF-ADMINISTRATION IN DEIR-EZ-ZOR 4 PROPOSED STRUCTURE Table 1: Proposed structure of the Deir-ez-Zor civil administration The Western Region Kasra Canton The administration boundaries of this region includes the Sur and Kisrah subdistrict. The region center is proposed to be located at the town of Kasra. Figure 1: Map of proposed structure of Deir-ez-Zor civil administration The Central Region At the beginning of 2020, the restructuring committee resumed its efforts to complete its Basira Canton work on the civil administration in