The residents of several villages in Western Raqqa, Syria, have started protests against US-backed Kurdish militants from the Syrian Democratic Forces. These have become violent, according to the Iranian news agency Fars. As the news outlet reported, the locals of the area have set some Kurdish bases on fire and blocked streets with burning tires. Some civilians as well as SDF militants have been wounded.
The uprising began after the militia detained an elder of the local Bu Khamis tribe, Sheikh Bashir Hamdan al-Hashmar. It has also been said that the SDF has been taxing residents to pay for the fight with Turkish forces in the operation in Afrin. As the residents in one town in Raqqa Region reported, each family there must pay 500 Syrian Liras.
The same fee was imposed in a camp in Western Raqqa, where those families who don’t want to pay “the costs of war” are threatened with expulsion.
Another way to cover the shortage, as Fars suggests, is disassembling warplanes from the local base. The parts are subsequently sold to unknown parties.
READ MORE: Pentagon Suggests US Will Keep Arming Kurds in Syria After Raqqa
US-backed forces drove Daesh* out of Raqqa in October 2017. The city previously served as the de facto capital of the terrorist group's self-declared caliphate.
*Terror organisation, also known as Daesh, IS, ISIL or ISIS; Banned in Russia and many other countries.
