DEIR EZ-ZOR, Syria (North Press) – Al-Faisal hopes to return to his village in the northern countryside of Deir ez-Zor Governorate, eastern Syria, that he left due to security harasses and for fearing of being arrested by Syrian government forces and Iranian-backed militia.
Jaber al-Faisal, from the village of Mazloum, in the northern countryside of Deir ez-Zor, lives in separate mud houses on the vicinity of the town of al-Izba, in the northern countryside of the governorate, with thousands of displaced families from seven different villages in the governorate.
Since the start of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, Iran has officially announced its support for the Syrian government and sent military consultants to support government forces in their war against factions of the Syrian opposition.
Iranian-backed militias and government forces control large areas of the Syrian Desert and the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor, which constitutes a source of concern as it witnesses intensive operations by Islamic State (ISIS) sleeper cells.
Although the government forces and the Iranian-backed militia control their villages, those IDPs do not loss hope of return.
The residents of those villages, including al-Husainiyah, Salhiya, Hatla, Marat, Mazloum, Khesham and Tabiyah, refuse to return to their villages that have been controlled by the government forces since the expulsion of ISIS in 2017, for fearing of brutal policy adopted by the government, in addition to arbitrary arrests and conscription campaigns.
Al-Faisal said that the residents of the seven villages gathered several times ahead of Koniko oil field in which US-led Global Coalition to defeat ISIS is based, calling for expelling the Iranian-backed militia from their villages to be able to return.
About 45,000 people from those villages, who live in the towns of M’ezila and al-Izba, suffer from lack of basics of life, amid difficult economic conditions and absence of organizations’ role.
Taim al-Salem, from al-Husainiyah, has suffered from displacement for six years. However, he prefers bearing this suffering to returning to his village while government controlling.
Their suffering continues despite frequent attempts to go back to their villages, as they implored tribes in Deir ez-Zor to stand by them in several events and raised signs calling for expelling the Iranian militia from their villages ahead of Koniko oil field. However, everything they did was in vain.
“Returning to our villages is a legitimate right and an essential request, but during the presence of al-Assad regime and his militia, it is impossible even though we will be forced to fight those militia and expel them from our villages, because war will not be more difficult than the displacement that we are experiencing now,” al-Salem told North Press.
Most of the Iranian-backed militia and government forces reside in the civilians’ houses under the pretext that their owners refuse to return to their houses, in addition to fighting the regime and calling it to leave those villages.
Since 2022, the residents of the seven villages coordinated more than five times with Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to organize peaceful protests, calling for going back to their villages, as well as, they sent several letters to the Global Coalition to take on its shoulders those requests.