MESOP WEST KURDISTAN : Arab tribes in Syria’s Hasakah emphasize their support to Assad regime

17-5-2014v – ARA News – Hasakah, Syria – Arab tribal figures of the Syrian northeastern governorate of Hasakah gathered on Thursday in the city of Qamishli to emphasize their participation in the forthcoming presidential elections in June. According to observers, this was the biggest Arab tribal gathering in Syria that declared its support to President Bashar al-Assad.

Local activists in Qamishli city told ARA News that more than 270 Arab tribal leaders of northeastern Syria appeared at the gathering to show their support to President Bashar al-Assad. In addition, leaders and members of the Baath Party in Hasakah governorate, the governor of Hasakah province and all the Syrian regime security chiefs operating in Hasakah province were present at the gathering.

“The gathering coincided with the presence of a large number of Assad supporters,” activists reported.

In addition to their support to the nomination of Bashar al-Assad in the presidential elections in June, the participants affirmed “the unity of the Syrian national territories, the Arab identity of the northeastern province of Hasakah (an ethnically mixed province of Kurds, Arabs, Syriacs and Assyrians) and the prevention of the efforts of forces which try to change the reality of Al-Jazeera (or Hasakah) province”.

According to reports, a big number of prominent Arab tribal leaders were present at the gathering; among them were Sheikh Mohammed Khair Ziyab al-Mashi, Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Tirad al-Mulhim, Sheikh Fawaz al-Bashir (a member of the Bagara tribe), Sheikh Sattam al-Dandal (a parliament member and member of the Aykedat tribe), Sheikh Hassan al-Muslitt (member of the Jabour tribe), Sheikh Mohammed Faris (member of the Tay tribe) and Sheikh Mohammed al-Nadir (member of the Naeem tribe).

Representatives of the National Youth Party for Justice and Development (one of the licensed opposition parties following the Syrian Constitutional Referendum in 2012) were also among the participants. Head of the party, Perwin Ibrahim, had stated, in February this year, to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) the support of her party to the Syrian governmental delegation to Geneva 2 Conference. Noteworthy, Syrian regime security patrols and the Arab pro-regime militants of the National Defence spread in the streets of the city, while members of the Syrian Army and the security forces blocked all the entrances of Qamishli and prevented the citizens’ movement from and to the city until the end of the gathering.