Syrian government and SDF carry out raids targeting regime loyalists and drug gangs

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have continued an arrest campaign in Raqqa and the surrounding countryside in northern Syria, which began over a week ago.

Local journalist Ahmed al-Hassan told The New Arab's Arabic-language edition, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, that the sweep was targeting suspected Assad regime supporters, figures opposed to the SDF and defectors.

At least 20 people from the neighbourhoods of Al-Mashlab, Al-Sabahia, Al-Khatuniya, Al-Qahtaniya, Ya'rub, and Al-Mansoura have been arrested, including activist Ahmed Hamza al-Satam.

The number of arrests and raids had sparked widespread public anger in Raqqa city and its western countryside, according to al-Hassan.

Elsewhere in Syria, the government's General Security forces and the Ministry of Defence carried out raids on drug dealers and traffickers along the Syrian-Iraq border, SANA news agency reported.

The state news agency said nine wanted people were arrested, without any casualties among the security forces.

The arrest operations and raids by the government and SDF come as Syria's security has been high on the international agenda, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying on Tuesday that the country could descend into chaos and war.

"It is our assessment that, frankly, the transitional authority, given the challenges they're facing, are maybe weeks -- not many months -- away from potential collapse and a full-scale civil war of epic proportions, basically the country splitting up," Rubio told a US Senate hearing.

Rubio spoke after a series of bloody attacks on the Alawite and Druze minorities in Syria, which have threatened the country's fragile peace.

Last week, US President Donald Trump announced a lifting of Assad-era sanctions and met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

The Turkish-US Joint Working Group on Syria also met on Tuesday in Washington, where the two countries reaffirmed a shared vision of a "stable Syria coexisting peacefully with its neighbours".