Press release
Syrian Opposition Coalition – Syria
Department of Media and Communications
July 20, 2020
Reports from rural Deir Ezzor countryside indicate that the PYD militia and their affiliated groups have launched a crackdown to crush resistance to their projects aimed at bringing about cultural and ideological distortion in the areas under its control in Syria.
The PYD militia has launched an arrest against activists who organized demonstrations through which the local population expressed their outright rejection of the policies of the PYD which is seeking to spread ignorance and distorting education in the region.
The PYD militia’s raids on homes involved various violations and mistreatment of civilians, included beating, intimidation, and abusing of children and women, all the way to the imposition of a curfew and the cutting off of electricity. The PYD militia also converted mosques to barracks and prevented the call to prayer.
The PYD militia is seeking to change the demographic landscape in the areas under its control, which represents a serious violation threatening the social fabric of the region. In addition to harassment, various restrictions, arrest, and forced recruitment, the PYD militia is targeting the active group in the region and launching a war against civil society to prevent it from exercising its role in the defense of civilians, all under the pretext of fighting terrorism.
We reaffirm our solidarity with the people of Deir Ezzor in their rejection of such arbitrary measures. We also affirm that the struggle of the Syrian people for the sake of freedom will not be complete before Syria is fully liberated from all forms of occupation, terrorism, hegemony, and tyranny.
This militia would not have followed in the Assad regime’s footsteps had it not been for their deception of some international parties. We stress that the practices of this militia have become clear and cannot be ignored as we call for a unified stance against terrorism without discrimination, especially as our people in east of the Euphrates are still suffering under various terrorist powers, from the Assad regime to the Iran militias, ISIS, and the PYD.
