Riots In Syria's Manbij Leave 4 Dead: Monitor

Kurdish forces have shot dead four Arab protesters during riots in the northern Syrian region of Manbij, a war monitor said Wednesday

Beirut, June 2 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Jun, 2021 ) :Kurdish forces have shot dead four Arab protesters during riots in the northern Syrian region of Manbij, a war monitor said Wednesday.

The violence broke out at a demonstration against military conscription against a backdrop of growing anger over a deepening economic crisis which the area's Kurdish leadership is struggling to contain.

The unrest comes weeks after similar riots gripped other parts of the autonomous zone Kurdish forces have carved out in northeastern Syria since civil war broke out in 2011.

In the Arab-majority region of Manbij, which was captured by Kurdish forces five years ago, "four protesters have been killed in the past 48 hours from live rounds fired by internal security forces," known as the Asayish, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Syria's state SANA news agency also reported four deaths.

The demonstrators initally took to the street to demand an end to forced military conscription by the region's main fighting force, the Syrian Democratic Forces.

But the protests swelled after one of their number was shot dead on Monday.

Protesters blocked roads and attacked an Asayish checkpoint outside Manbij on Tuesday, the Observatory said.

The Asayish responded by shooting dead three more protesters, further fuelling public anger, the monitor added.

The Manbij Military Council, a governing body linked to the Kurdish administration, acknowledged there had been casualties but did not specify how many.

In a statement on Tuesday, it blamed the violence on "criminal cells receiving their orders from external and domestic forces", a likely reference to the Syrian government and Turkey.

It accused instigators of using the issue of military conscription -- which has been in place for seven years -- as a pretext to spark strife.

Observatory head Rami Abdul Rahman said that after reaching 18, all young men were required to perform around one year of military service.

Representatives of the Asayish security forces and the Kurdish administration are currently in talks with Arab tribal leaders in an attempt to restore calm, the monitor said.

No major incidents were reported on Wednesday.