aris roussinosVerified account

In so far as DEZ MC fighters are drawn from other armed groups as well as just new recruits, it seems an equal split between pro-govt and rebel ones. When they talk about fellow tribesmen on opposing sides, it’s through a narrative of a shared war against ISIS.

Oh last note- one DEZ MC outpost we visited just outside Hajin was entirely Shaitat apart from one SAA defector all the way from Damascus they called “Shami”- he cited his reason for joining the SDF over other armed groups as “adl”- “justice”

Random note, but one quite cool thing about tribal Deiri fighters is they compete in sort of impromptu rhyming couplet battles at the frontline, I guess drawn from Bedu poetic traditions. So couplets mocking Baghdadi then moaning about sandstorms etc

Almost by accident, the US has achieved the non-Assad and non-Jihadi Syrian Arab governance & security structures it wanted at the beginning of the revolution; incubated, but no longer controlled, by Kurdish force of arms.

This will be explored in more detail in both videos & film, but the theme of this trip was the Arabs of the North Syrian Federation. From Manbij to Raqqa to Deir Ezzor, local Arabs are now running political affairs & are at the forefront of the fighting in Arab areas

Neither the YPG nor YPJ are in evidence in Raqqa. The city’s secured by local Arab un-uniformed HPC, mostly Raqqawi Arab RISF, then various Arab SDF sub-militias. You very rarely hear a word of Kurdish, except ‘Heval’ which has now become ubiquitous among Arab SDF.https://twitter.com/humanprovince/status/993211507025604608 …