Muna Ali, Baladi News
Even before liberating it from ISIS, the new occupying powers of al-Raqqa are now clear as a number of entities and countries are hurrying to establish bases or even prove their presence in the capital of ISIS in order to cut the road before any clear or probable enemy.
"SDF" militias, the exclusive agent for the International coalition in al-Raqqa, don't hide their ambitions to control the governorate and annex it to the "autonomy" led by separatist Kurds. Iran and the US on the other hand were the first countries to establish a foothold in the province, so that they have a role in determining its future, if not the future of whole Syria.
The Syrian journalist, Najm al-Deen al-Najm, reported local sources in al-Raqqa saying that the American forces in al-Tabaqah in the western countryside of al-Raqqa have established a command center for their military forces along with residential buildings for their soldiers, pointing out that the US forces are planning to station in this region on the long term.
Iran, on the other hand, is seeking to form a new sectarian militia that is fully affiliated to it in the city of Maskanah, that is adjacent to the borders of al-Raqqa, which allows it to advance on the western towns and villages and though interfere in planning the political future of the region.
The Syrian journalist, Adnan Abdulrazzaq, pointed out in a private interview with Baladi News that this war may result in a demographic change in the region in favor of the Shiites supporter by Tehran or the Kurdish militias.
According to Abdulrazzaq, Assad forces backed by Iranian and Iraqi militias are trying to advance and control the crossings, al-Tanef on top of which, in an attempt to restore the commercial activity with the neighboring countries and cut the road before the foreign existence.
Abdulrazzaq concluded saying that the importance of the Syrian northeastern region could be the reason of a conflict that may not end in decades due to its location on the borders with Iraq and Turkey, not to mention that it is Syria's oil, food, and water reservoir.