DEIR E-ZOR/RAQQA — The pontoon bridge connecting the banks of the Euphrates River in Syria's eastern Deir e-Zor province buzzed with activity on Monday. Dozens of people streamed across by foot and car, some bringing belongings strapped to the top of their vehicles, others holding up the Syrian national flag.
Two months ago, in November 2025, the atmosphere at this bridge—which links Deir e-Zor city to the west with the village of Hatla to the east—was one of careful control: the new Syrian government's checkpoints at one end, and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) checkpoints at the other.
Now, a day after taking control of the province, government officials tried to control the chaos at both ends. Army and internal security personnel gestured frantically, attempting to mediate the flow of traffic as armored vehicles rolled across the makeshift crossing beside civilian cars.
Deir e-Zor had been a tinderbox since the Assad regime fell in December 2024. Sliced in the middle by the Euphrates, the eastern province was, until this week, a frontier between the Syrian government headed by Ahmad al-Sharaa to the west, and the US-backed, Kurdish-led SDF to the east.
Though the sides maintained a precarious peace for 10 months following a general March 2025 agreement to integrate the SDF and affiliated institutions into the Syrian state, stalled negotiations gave way to violent confrontations in early January.
Days of fighting in Aleppo's Kurdish-majority neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Ashrafieh and Bani Zaid saw government forces take control on January 10. On January 17, the fighting moved to the area of the northeastern Aleppo town of Deir Hafer, where SDF forces were soon pushed east of the Euphrates. Within less than 48 hours, the government advance—aided by local tribal uprisings and defections—forced the SDF to withdraw from the Arab-majority provinces of Deir e-Zor and Raqqa.
Deir e-Zor resident Khattab Hamido stood at the eastern end of the pontoon bridge as people crossed on Monday, expressing relief at what he called a "liberation."
"The situation was really bad [under the SDF], we were nervous about so many things," he told Syria Direct. "They'd close the roads, and then there were the checkpoints.
Hamido lives in the area of the al-Halabiya roundabout near the bridge, which saw fighting between government-allied forces and the SDF earlier this week. "There were SDF snipers near that petrol pump," he said, gesturing towards a nearby building. He recalled hours of heavy gunfire and drones.
"We weren't expecting it, but thank God, they just left overnight. It all happened fast," Hamido added.
Tribes revolt
In Deir e-Zor and Raqqa, the fighting included armed forces from local tribes, including the Baggara and Uqaydat. Arabs, who make up a majority of those living in the two provinces, had previously mobilized and revolted against the SDF, notably in 2023. Over the year after the fall of the Assad regime, multiple tribes declared general mobilizations against the SDF.
Sheikh Hajem al-Bashir, the head of the Baggara tribe in Syria, told Syria Direct the latest decision to rise up against the SDF came after patience wore thin. "People were patient with the negotiations held by the Syrian government, but ultimately, the negotiations did not reach a solution," al-Bashir said, sitting in his office in Mheymdeh with his son and other men from the Baggara tribe.
"The popular uprising came as a result of this patience, this great suffering throughout the year" and included people "who had joined the government," he added, without elaborating.
Al-Bashir's son, Abu Hajem, explained that in the past the Baggara tribe coordinated with the SDF and worked with them due to a lack of choices.
"When you compare the Assad regime and the SDF, you choose to work with the latter. But now that we have a government, of course we're going to work with them," Abu Hajem said.
Al-Bashir says the Baggara tribe currently has no intention to rise up again, as Deir e-Zor is now under the control of the Syrian government.
Osama, a fighter from the Uqaydat tribe who asked to be identified only by his first name, feels differently. He stood at the al-Dalleh roundabout on the western edge of Deir e-Zor city on Monday, armed with a rifle. Dozens of other fighters stood nearby, some sporting knives sheathed into waist and wristbands.
"We don't consider the revolution complete until we've freed Hasakah, Ain al-Arab [Kobani], and Qamishli," he declared, naming cities with large Kurdish populations in areas still held by the SDF. "Then Suwayda and Quneitra, if God wills it," he added.
Under a shaky four-day ceasefire that went into effect on January 20, Damascus's forces pledged not to enter Kurdish cities and towns if an integration agreement is reached.
Al-Aqtan prison
The next day, in neighboring Raqqa province, government forces massed in the area of the al-Aqtan prison north of the provincial capital. SDF forces remain inside the prison, which holds a mix of alleged Islamic State (IS) members and those accused of other charges, despite Damascus taking control of the rest of the province.
A few kilometers away, the air was taut with tension on Tuesday afternoon. "We may start firing rockets soon," one member of the security forces said on the road leading to the prison.
Meanwhile, family members of some detainees inside gathered anxiously, hoping their relatives would be released. Thamer Abdulaziz al-Ghubn was waiting for his two sons, who he said were taken by the SDF 15 days ago.
"They saw photos of the Syrian flag on their phones, decided [my sons] were terrorists, and then took them," al-Ghubn told Syria Direct.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) documented hundreds of arbitrary arrests by the SDF over the past year, including for expressing support for the new government in Damascus.
Al-Ghubn is still waiting. As of Thursday, al-Aqtan prison remains encircled by government forces, amid negotiations with SDF fighters inside. The SDF media center said in a press release on Thursday that "Damascus-backed factions" had shelled the prison multiple times in violation of the January 20 ceasefire.
Uncertainty and hope
Alexander McKeever, a researcher who focuses on northern Syria, believes Damascus may have had a "fairly direct" hand in the tribal uprising along the Euphrates. He noted Jihad Issa al-Sheikh, head of the Office of Tribes and Clans established by the Syrian presidency in September 2025, has held regular meetings with representatives of many tribes in eastern Syria.
"Another indicator is that the tribal forces entered [northeastern Syria] everywhere across the river, whereas [past uprisings] have been rather disorganized and popped up in random places," McKeever said. This time, it "was everywhere all at once."
Sheikh al-Bashir, however, said there was no significant coordination with the government, but that their goals simply "aligned."
"An observer might feel there was coordination, but there wasn't; it was a feeling that unified us because the goal was the same: to get rid of this criminal regime," he said.
Following the SDF's retreat to Hasakah province, and multiple failed ceasefire agreements, the group has declared a general mobilization, viewing the conflict as an "existential" one, McKeever.
While the SDF has announced its "full commitment" to the latest ceasefire agreement, it remains "pretty much impossible" to determine whether this one will stick, he added, as previous deals rapidly collapsed.
For now, the mood in Deir e-Zor and Raqqa remains largely hopeful. Hamido said residents are happy with the change in governance, and expressed optimism for a stable future.
"I hope people can work, develop themselves and go through the street freely, with God's blessings in our lives," he said.
