A Bedouin tribe in Syria is holding commemorations for a massacre 11 years ago. The Shaitat tribe was brutally attacked by ISIS in 2014, and today it continues to remember the massacre of its members. It was one of several tribes attacked by ISIS during the rise of the extremist group.
Eleven years ago ISIS was on the rise in Iraq and Syria. In June 2014, it had swept into Mosul in Iraq, the country’s second-largest city. It expelled Christians and persecuted minorities. In August, it began a massacre of the Yazidis in Iraq, murdering thousands and taking thousands captive.
ISIS didn’t confine its persecution to minority groups; it targeted Shi’ites in Iraq, massacring Iraqi cadets at Camp Speicher.
The Shaitat were targeted by ISIS in the Euphrates River valley. The tribe is one of many Syrian Bedouin tribes. In the Euphrates valley, many of these tribes also share connections to tribes in Iraq. The valley stretches from Deir Ezzor downriver into Iraq. As such, the people there have often migrated and tended these fields for generations.
“Eleven years ago, in August 2014, three villages in eastern Deir ez-Zor became the scene of one of ISIS’s most brutal massacres,” North Press Agency, a news agency in eastern Syria, reported Sunday. “These villages were home to the [Shaitat] tribe, who resisted the extremist group’s control. Their only ‘crime’ was defending their land and dignity, a stance that cost over 1,200 lives, including children, women, and elderly residents.”
“The massacre left an indelible scar on the community and on humanity itself,” the report said. “It was not merely a military act but a revenge-driven atrocity under the cover of false religious edicts. Images of the victims remain etched in the region’s memory, their final moments marked by despair and dignity.”
People are still searching for victims of the ISIS massacre. ISIS clung on to the Euphrates River valley, and its last stronghold was in Baghouz, Syria, near the river. As such, the tribes there witnessed ISIS’s brutal rule from 2014 to 2019. Today, the tribes are facing another uncertain future in the new Syria.
Some tribes back the new government. They have chafed under the rule of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish-led group that the US backed against ISIS. They have also clashed with the Druze in Sweida.
The clashes between the Druze and Bedouin sometimes boil down into depictions of the Bedouin in negative terms.
The Bedouin also have faced persecution. Because they tend to be Sunni, they tend to feel more connections to HTS, the group that came to power in Syria after the fall of the Assad regime.
Being Sunni did not protect civilians
Nevertheless, being Sunni didn’t save them from ISIS attacks. “Never forget… never forgive” is the slogan raised by al-Shuaytat descendants,” North Press Agency reported.
“I lost a loved one in the 2014 [Shaitat] massacre,” Abdullarim al-Omayri from Abu Hammam told the North Press Agency. “We are here today to honor the 11th anniversary of this tragedy that affected every member of the [Shaitat] tribe.”
Sahar Ubaid al-Hamoud, a member of the local Women’s Committee, told North Press: “Every year we remember this painful chapter of our lives. The 11th anniversary remains present in our collective memory, keeping alive the remembrance of our children, families, and elders.”
The anniversary would continue to be observed as a testament that “we have not and will not forget our victims,” she said.
The memory of the ISIS massacre is important. ISIS destroyed the lives of many people in Syria and Iraq.
About 50,000 foreign extremists joined ISIS. Many of the foreigners then fled back to their countries as ISIS was defeated. Some went to Turkey or Idlib in Syria. Others ended up in camps in eastern Syria, such as Al-Hol.
Today, there are questions about what happens to the ISIS families in Al-Hol, many of whom are foreign citizens. Many European governments refuse to take back their citizens from Al-Hol, essentially dumping the problem on Syria.
At the same time, there is also very little economic support coming from abroad for people in Syria, including the Bedouin. As such, the disaster of 2014 continues to haunt the landscape, and it is hard to heal.