The Natural Popular Tendency Towards Resisting the US, and the Attempts to Exploit it!

If we set aside the political aspect – regional and international – of the issue, and focused on its internal aspect, we will find ourselves before a set of very diverse and contradictory indicators, which will require a lot of pondering to be understood. We will start with a brief description of the situation in Deir EzZor governorate, where important portions of the events we are discussing are taking place.

In Deir EzZor

The administrative area of Deir EzZor governorate is divided east and west of the Euphrates River, something that has resulted in the current circumstances putting it between two different direct dominations on the ground. While Deir EzZor city, Al-Mayadin, Boqruss, Al-Quriyah, Al-Asharah, and part of Al-Bukamal lie under the control of the Syrian regime; parts of Al-Bukamal and Al-Busayrah, Al-Shheell, Raqeeb, Abu Hamam, and other lie in the part where SDF is present and the US occupation has major influence.

This complex reality has pushed the area’s residents to look for forms of understanding with the existing authorities in their areas, which has often produced attempts to package the wishes on the area’s residents within the general trends that serve the interests of those in control. However, it has become clear that the different types of existing understandings are nothing more than fragile and temporary understandings, like the temporary situation that is ruling the entire region.

Two Trends and Three Propositions

In the sorting process that is necessary for understanding, we need to move from the general propositions specific to resistance to the detailed propositions.

However, first it should be reaffirmed that there is a reality and actual work towards resisting the US, which stems from ordinary Syrians and is not limited to Arabs or Kurds or any of the Syrian components, but it is deeply stretched among all the area’s residents.

The First Trend (The Beginnings of Actual Resistance)

Within this trend fall the actual actions that seek to resist the US, whether they are actions on the ground or political propositions coming from ordinary Syrians with their various nationalities/ethnicities.

The Second Trend (Sabotage in the Name of Resistance)

Within this trench fall proposition issued by parties that are contradictory on their face, but they are harmonious in their goals and objectives. More clearly, what we mean is the following two propositions:

1- A proposition from the extremists among the “loyalists” who are trying to instigate the Arab tribes to “resist the US” not through targeting it, but through entering a direct battle against SDF.

2- A proposition from the extremists in the “opposition” of the Syrian Coalition type, as heard from its current president Nasr Alhariri and also through the emerging activity of Riyad Hijab, both of whom ask the US – each in his own way – that the Coalition / tribes get handed over control of the northeastern area from SDF, and for that to happen pursuant to US sponsorship. In that context, they are also calling for entering a battle with SDF.

These two last propositions form together one trend in the practical sense, and neither of them aims to resist the US. To the contrary, they serve the blatant US agenda in pushing towards warring and fighting on national (Arabic-Kurdish) basis. This is understandable from the point of view of interests of the extremists on both sides, as they both thrive on the continuation of the war, area afraid of the imminence of the solution, and they want to delay it by igniting a new disorder and through spilling more Syrian blood which has become a lifeline for both.

The US Interest

It is not surprising for the US (and UK) to come across as a maestro of the band of extremists from the different side and during the different stages. This is also understandable in the general sense, starting from the overlap of interests which can be simplified as follows: the US wants Syria a quagmire / the quagmire is the proper environment for the existence of the Syrians extremists.

However, beyond the general meaning we can reaffirm the following points:

1- Within the general framework of the US retreat, the moment of complete withdrawal from Syria is objectively approaching, and the subsequent and accelerating withdrawals from Germany, Afghanistan, and Iraq (especially Iraq) are but signs of this withdrawal.

2- Withdrawing requires rearrangement of things in the northeast where it gets filled with mines, so it explodes with the US exit and its implosion (self-explosion) becomes an alternative to the US presence, and performs the same job as US presence: chaos, preventing the solution, and perpetuation of the quagmire.

3- The most important took within this framework is fabricating a war along national basis – Arabic-Kurdish – and even more than that, complicating matters to the extreme by pulling as many countries as possible into the quagmire, by luring them with their ability to replace the US and to inherit its influence – this includes the attempts to pull in Turkey, Iran, Russia, and Iraqi Kurdistan, with the hopes that everyone clashes with everyone else.

4- Among the important tools within this framework is also guaranteeing that SDF is contained and prevented from any independent behavior, and raising the “Coalition, tribes, and Turkey” stick in its face, with a US hand. The latest Cemil Bayil statements are clear in refusing the US control of Syrian oil, and even his public rejection of the contract signed with a US oil company. The deep and far meanings of that are no secret – Cemil Bayik is a major PYD leader and a member of the leadership committee of the KCK.

5- In the same context, fabricating a long-term internal war requires the US’ historical expertise in sabotage. This expertise includes a fundamental law: all the sides have to be weak so that none of them can overcome the others and strong enough to be able to cause enough destruction. In this context, we find the US meeting with Riyad Hijab, for example (Joel Rayburn, Jeffrey’s deputy, met him two day in a row in Washington). This is the same Hijab who clearly incites a war between the tribes and SDF, specifically depending in that on the situation in Deir EzZor discussed hereinabove. Additionally, the relationship between the Syrian Coalition and the US is no secret, the same Coalition that asks the US to push aside the “terrorist SDF” to sit in its place. Furthermore, we see the US continuing to send false signals of its “loyalty” to SDF, and we see among SDF’s ranks too certain extremists who arm themselves with those signals and build upon them.

Reality is Stubborn

Regarding northern Syria, the US is living a heated race with time, where it has to perform a specific task within a short period that may not exceed a few months: it must ignite war and withdraw.

Patriotic Syrians from all sides have to focus their efforts in two directions, which are in reality one: escalating the resistance against the US, elevating the level of understanding among Syrians themselves, and weakening the extremists from all sides.