SDF offers amnesty to Deir ez-Zor gunmen

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) on Thursday reported that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has offered reconciliation to all gunmen from Deir ez-Zor that fled to areas controlled by the Syrian government.

"They were given a period of 15 days to return to SDF areas and hand over their weapons," the report said.

Moreover, an amnesty was offered to gunmen located in SDF-held territories, to hand over their weapons and start the required legal procedures in a period of 15 days.

The procedures start on next Thursday Sept. 28, where several contact numbers were posted on SDF’s official website and the website of the Asayish.

Read More: SDF to offer amnesty to Deir ez-Zor fighters

Earlier SDF Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi said the SDF will work on an amnesty for fighters detained during the clashes in Deir ez-Zor after the SDF cleared the city from rival fighters on Sept. 6.

In late August, heavy clashes broke out between the SDF and rival Arab militants in Deir ez-Zor.

Moreover, last Monday again brief clashes broke out after gunmen infiltrated SDF-held areas in Deir ez-Zor from Syrian-government controlled areas.

SOHR said in a report that at least 118 people, including ten civilians, were killed in the two rounds of violent clashes between local gunmen from Deir ez-Zor countryside and members of the SDF.

According to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, fighting in the northeast left 23 civilians killed and many more injured in Deir-ez-Zor Governorate late last month.

United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir O. Pedersen in a briefing to the Security Council on Wednesday said that in the recent period we have seen "some of the most serious threats to the relative calm that has prevailed since 2020."

This included "two weeks of armed clashes between Arab tribes and the SDF in Deir-ez-Zor."