Islamic State has declared the Sheitaat tribe "an unbelieving sect" that should be fought as if they were infidels, according to a report from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence in the Syrian war, according to Reuters.
At least 700 hundred members of the tribe have already been executed, the Observatory reported on Aug. 16, Reuters reported. Another 1,800 are still missing after being detained by Islamic State, according to the Observatory, which gathers information from all sides in the Syrian war.
Pictures of the bodies of men apparently slain by Islamic State fighters in Sheitaat areas are surfacing every day, said Rami Abdelrahman, founder of the Observatory, according to Reuters. "We have repeatedly expressed concerns about extermination," he added.
"It is the first time that the Islamic State has used these (religious) concepts against an entire tribe," he said, Reuters reported.
The Islamic State has provided a convenient religious tool for crushing a tribe that until recently controlled several oil fields in Deir al-Zor, according to a source familiar with the conflict, according to Reuters. That revenue stream is now fully in the hands of Islamic State.
The treatment of the Sheitaat has served as a powerful deterrent to further rebellion in Deir al-Zor, a province bordering Iraq in the east mostly inhabited by Sunni Arabs many of whom are members of tribes that span the border into Iraq, Reuters reported.
Besides the Sheitaat tribe, thought to number about 150,000 people, the Islamic State has accepted the surrender of other influential clans in the area which have publicly capitulated to the group, according to Reuters.
It was in early July that Islamic State, boosted by territorial gains in Iraq, staged a rapid advance in the province, securing a corridor of Syrian territory along the Euphrates river all the way to the Iraqi border, Reuters reported.
