Damascus denies tribal clashes in al-Hassake
Syria, Local, 8/25/2005

The Syrian government on Wednesday denied what was stated by media on bloody tribal clashes took place on Tuesday in al-Hassake city northeast of Syria, said to have resulted in many being killed.

The spokesman for the Syrian ministry of information Nizar Mayhoub said that news on bloody confrontations in al-Hassake between the two tribes of Shummar and al-Jabbour "are groundless." He explained that "the incident is limited to a killing crime that took place in al-Hassake on Tuesday evening and led to limited personal differences between two families. This was immediately controlled by the local authorities."

Mayhoub continued that "one young man killed another over old personal differences, and following that some relatives of the deceased tried to attack two houses for relatives of the killers and burn them, however, the police interfered and prevented the attack and damages were limited to burning the door of one of the two houses and one carpet and this is due to the rapid interference of the police, while the fire was put out by the firemen."

Mayhoub stressed that what was issued by the press on this issue "is exaggerated and groundless" noting that the police "had not arrested anyone in al-Hassake except the killer, and no clashes were reported with the police nor teargas was used, as stated in the fabricated news."

The son of one tribe chief in Shummar tribe Falah Ojeil Abdul Karim called on the Syrian government to give special interest to this "sensitive and fertile region" noting "as huge shortage in social services and a high rate of unemployment." Factors which, according to him, flare up tension in the area. Abdul Karim stressed that basically this crime is because of "youth misconduct," adding that "the killed man is a cousin for the killer" due to the kinship and marriage relations between the two tribes.

Previous Stories:
  370 publishing houses take part in al-Assad library book exhibition   (8/24/2005)
  Calls to combat corruption and waste   (8/24/2005)
  News on the killing of four Syrian policemen   (8/24/2005)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search