Events in Dier Ezzor governorate, Syria, 3-4 March 2021

Statement, 5 March 2021

The Skirmish yesterday with Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) near Al Tayyana was not a reprisal for the killings in Jalalabad, Afghanistan as has been claimed in some spurious media activity of Afghanistan and Turkey.

The events of yesterday near Al Tayyana in Dier Ezzor governorate happened as a result of an attempt to arrest for international transport, a wanted man who is connected to ISIS and who was under warrant with bounty for international crimes.

The armed resistance to the arrest resulted in 7 ISIS deaths and one injured captive woman who was harmed by a partial collapse of the building she was  detained within, unknown to the arresting party.

The innocent woman captive has since been evacuated to medical care and has within 24 hours made a full recovery according to her doctor and will soon be safely returned to her family which has been contacted.

While killing women journalists, lawyers, politicians and jurists has become a growing crime in Afghanistan and Syria since 2012, and more so since America left Syria and Afghanistan under the Trump regime in 2019 and 2020 respectively, it is no less true that nations in the region have canvassed many potential non-aligned private security efforts to collaborate and share security information for the benefit of all in the vacuum created by America’s abrupt abandonment of their peacekeeping initiatives (or aggression) and resulting responsibilities in the Middle East.

For over two decades, most NGOs and media operations in the troubled parts of the Middle East have hired private security agencies comprised in part of honorably discharged, former long-serving military expatriates who wish to continue their tactical training and use their skills for the safety and protection of humanitarian frontliners be they reporters, doctors, nurses or general helpers of humanity.

Much of the current security problems were created by blips in American leadership, and that includes the ISIS phenomenon and creation in Iraq. Since then, America has left,  and left behind a mess.

It likely would be better that the regional interests clean the matter up rather than count on America which would only repeat the same cycle anyway.

Hence a status quo is a myth; the situation is changing dynamically in favour of eliminating radical insurgency; terrorism; misogyny; and the murder of ordinary civilian workers; which by consensus of reasonable people can not continue with impunity.

The ReaperTeam

Additional reading:

Funerals for three young women journalists killed on 2 March in Jalalabad Afghanistan