BEIRUT (AP) Tribesmen have risen up against the extremist Islamic State group in eastern Syria, forcing it to withdraw from an oil rich eastern province after heavy clashes that left more than a dozen people dead, activists said Saturday.
It was the first sign of local resistance to the extremist group since its fighters captured large parts of Deir el-Zour in recent weeks.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the group was forced to bring in reinforcements from neighboring Iraq after members of the Shueitat tribe drove rebels out of the villages of Kishkiyeh, Abu Hamam and Granij in Deir el-Zour.
The Observatory said tribesmen torched the local headquarters of the Islamic State in the nearby town of Ashara and that residents held a demonstration against the group.
“This is a very important area for Islamic State because it is rich with oil and borders Iraq.”
The Observatory said tribesmen captured the nearby Tanak oil field on Friday. It added that the Islamic State has sent a large number of fighters from the Iraqi border town of Qaim to reinforce the group’s positions.
In a separate incident, the Observatory said Syrian troops and members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group ambushed a large number of opposition fighters in the Qalamoun region near the border with Lebanon on Saturday, killing at least 50 of them. It said seven troops and Hezbollah fighters were killed in the fighting.
Government troops backed by Hezbollah have seized nearly all the strategic Qalamoun region since launching an offensive there last November, severing rebel supply lines from neighboring Lebanon
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