Al-Shaitat

Summary

Al-Shaitat (Arabic: الشُّعَيْطَاتُ, romanizedaš-Šuʿayṭāt), in Standard Arabic al-Shuʿaytāt, is a Sunni Arab clan which lives in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate in eastern Syria. Its membership numbers between 70,000 and 90,000 and it is led by Sheikh Rafaa Aakla al-Raju.[1][2] In the local Arab dialect, the "u" is not pronounced and since the ʿayn sound often is not transcribed, the name is written Shaitat, Shaytat, Sheitat, Sheitaat and the like. The last vowel is long, therefore sometimes it is written with a double "a". Henry Field identified the Shaitat as a clan of the Aqaidat.[3] They were the target of the Al-Shaitat massacres.

al-Shaitat
الشُّعَيْطَاتُ
Flag of al-Shaitat (unofficial)
EthnicityArab
LocationUpper Euphrates river basin
(mainly Deir ez-Zor Governorate)
Population70,000–90,000
LanguageArabic

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Toddler 'Pulled From Bomb Rubble In Syria', news.sky.com.
  2. ^ Massacre And Media: ISIS And The Case Of The Sunni Arab Shaitat Tribe, Alberto M. Fernández, MEMRI, June 23, 2015
  3. ^ Field, Henry (1940). The Anthropology of Iraq. The Upper Euphrates. Chicago Field Museum. p. 225.