Thirteen people have been killed in clashes in Kurdish-controlled eastern Syria between US-backed fighters and members of a local armed group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) said.

According to this source, three members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and ten fighters of the local group were killed in the clashes that began on Monday in several villages of Deir Ezzor province. The SDF is the Washington-backed coalition dominated by the Syrian Kurds. It spearheaded the 2019 fight to oust Islamic State jihadists from Syria.

Today the Kurds control a semi-autonomous zone in northeastern Syria that includes large parts of Deir Ezzor province.

The Deir Ezzor Military Council is a local, Arab armed group that used to work with the SDF. Its leader, Ahmad al-Habil or Abu Hawla, was arrested on Sunday in the city of Hasakeh. The unrest that erupted after his arrest escalated on Monday, when SDF positions in the area were targeted, according to the Observatory.

It is not clear why Habil was arrested, but the OSDH and a local militant said he was known in the area for smuggling and had amassed great wealth over the years.

The Deir Ezzor Military Council is responsible for security in some areas of this province, whose inhabitants are, for the most part, Arabs. The Kurds administer the region through local political and military councils so as not to displease the local tribes, who are almost all Arab.

“Actually, it seems to be a settling of scores,” commented Omar Abu Laila, a local journalist, the head of the DeirEzzor24 news website. “The corrupt commanders felt threatened after the arrest of Abu Hawlah and tried to turn the case into a tribal issue to protect themselves,” he added.

The SDF limited itself to announcing that it had launched “an operation to strengthen security” in Deir Ezzor, against Islamic State and “criminals involved in drug and arms trafficking”.