Al-Shaitat

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

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 members number between 70,000 and 90,000 and it is led by Sheikh Rafaa Aakla al-Raju.[1][2] Henry Field identified the Shaitat as a clan of the Aqaidat.[3] They were the target of the Al-Shaitat massacres committed by the Islamic State in 2014.

  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.