Government forces shoot dead NDF member in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor
DEIR EZ-ZOR, Syria (North Press) – On Friday, a member of the pro-government National Defense Forces (NDF) was killed by government forces in a town east of Deir ez-Zor, eastern Syria.
A military source from the Syrian government forces said that soldiers at a checkpoint of the government Fourth Division targeted a motorcycle killing the rider, called Haider al-Alawi, who comes from the city of Palmyra in central Syria, at the entrance to the town of al-Mayadin, 40 km east of Deir ez-Zor.
The soldiers stationed at the checkpoint said that “the motor rider was masked and carrying a Kalashnikov weapon, and wanted to quickly cross the checkpoint, refusing to stop.” The soldiers thought that he was a gunman belonging to the Islamic State (ISIS) or a hostile faction so they fired on him, according to the source.
Following the incident, the town witnessed tension for hours between the Fourth Division and the NDF, which ended with the government forces arresting the checkpoint’s members for interrogation, according to the source.
Recently, the Fourth Division intensified its roadblocks to search and check the identities of passers-by, amid residents’ resentment over harassment and extortion they are exposed to at these checkpoints.
The Syrian Desert covers nearly half of the area of Syria, and is distributed over the governorates of Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Rif Dimashq, Suwayda and Palmyra.
Iranian-backed militias and the 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 the ISIS sleeper cells.