Syrian Civil War from the Viewpoint of "Tribes"
Introduction: With the knowledge of the tribes, you can understand Syria??
Five years have passed since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011. The civil war has gone throughvarious phases, starting from the government violent crackdown on the public protest movement torequest political reforms, arming of anti-government movement, internationalization of the incident
involving foreign countries, and the emergence of the Islamic extremist armed groups, typically theIslamic state, as the main force against the government military. Especially under the internationalizationof the civil war and the "emergence of the Islamic extremists as the main force", we cannot consider the
Syrian civil war as a simple story of good fighting against evil like, "the righteous democratic movement
against vicious dictator's regime." Because of such complex situation, it is necessary to study the various
international and domestic factors in Syria based on a variety of perspectives. This study is to investigate
the Syrian Civil War in term of tribe's roles therein and to make a prediction on the development of theincident.
It should be kept in mind that studying the civil war based on the perspective of tribes is not a magic key
to explain the whole Syrian civil war and society simply and comprehensively. It is true that the tribes
are an important constituent in the Syrian society, but not representing the whole Syrian society. We
cannot explain the whole picture of the civil war simply by the roles and standpoints of the tribes therein.
The same is true for various factors such as the religion and sects, ethnic groups, classes, politicalparties, economic disparities, and intelligence agencies in that they are all important factors in the Syriansociety and civil war but cannot explain them as a whole. Moreover, the term "tribes" may be different
as to which kind of group it means, and which kind of unit of analysis, as the case may be. The definitionof the tribes is different between when it explains something relating to tribes and when it explains how
the tribes relate to the cause or result of political incidents. In addition, groups considered as tribes arelargely different individually in terms of their scales, lifestyles, and political and social influences.
Tribes are called Qabīla (or Qabā’il in plural form) or Ashīra (ʻAshā’ir in plural form) in Arabic. According
to Akahori, today's anthropologists tend to refrain the use of this word "tribes" due to the overly
diversified variety of tribes but this word functions as the concept usable for academic term regarding
the Middle East, defining that the tribes are "regional patrilineal descent group" based on the kinshiptheory in the anthropology [Akahori 2008 353-354]. Meanwhile, Kubo at al. introduced the definition of
the tribes as "ethnic collective organized (or used to be historically organized) under a traditional
authority" as a subordinate type of ethnic groups, in view of the comparative governmental analysis(Kubo et al., 2016: 189]. Moreover, Takaoka at al. defined tribes as "a group based on kinship, historicalcoalition or subordination to be a certain social group in relationship to the government" in order to clarify
the roles of the tribes in the Syrian political structure rather than in terms of the inside details or structureof the individual tribes [Takaoka 2011: 52]. In this study, we adopt the definition in [Takaoka 2011],
noting that there are various definitions depending on the viewpoints of observation.
On the other hand, it is important in studying the political roles of the tribes to understand that when asingle or plural tribes influence the state or society, the tribe(s) is also strongly affected in terms of theirlife style and growth of each group by the policy of the government or the social and economic
circumstances [Tapper 1990: 52]. Moreover, as pointed out by Zakariyā, the nomadic life, which has
been traditional in the Arabic tribes, are such that the majority of sheep kept by the tribes in Cham(historic name of the region mainly including the current Syrian Arab Republic) are those kept or utilized
by contract with investors living in the cities [Zakariyā 1997: 237]. That is, the tribes are not independent
from the cities, and the political and economic activities in the cities, but the tribes are strongly connectedwith the activities. The recent changes such as proceeding of settling, and developments in transport,
traffic, and military technologies have influenced the lives and political/social roles of the tribes. However,the nature of the tribes as being inseparable from the political, economic, and social circumstances
around them has been intensified.
1. Politics and Society in Syria and Tribes
Before analyzing the roles of the tribes in the current civil war and the influence of the civil war to tribes,
we discuss the statues and roles of the tribes in the politics and society in Syria before the civil war. The
most of the survey and research on Syrian tribes are field investigation including travel-report likesurveys and economic development plan-related survey reports, or reports specifically analyzing
individual tribes based on hearing investigations. Typical ones are a literature on Shammar and Tayi
distributed in the current Hasakah [al-ʻAskar 1993, 1996b], and a literature on Baggara, a dominant tribe

in Dayr az Zawr [al-ʻAskar 1996a]. Beside there are some rare and valuable literatures such as [Zakariyā1997] comprehensively dealing with the tribes in the Cham area including the non-Arabic tribes, and [alḤamad 2003] collecting information on tribes living in Raqa. They are valuable because they include theinformation on a plurality of tribes, especially, information regarding how much the tribes involved in thepolitics after the institutions such as the council and cabinet were formed in Syria. Regarding
Affardilah?? Living in Raqa, [Khalaf 1991] discussed this tribe, focusing agricultural businesses withpumped irrigation, the internal change in the tribe through the agricultural land reform after 1950's, andthe change in the inter-tribe relation with the other tribes. [Batatu 1999] is also rare and valuable, which
discussed the development of the communism movement in Dayr az Zawr, and the reality of the diffusionof the Ba'ath party in the Dayr az Zawr and Hasakah, and the relationship of the party and the local
tribes. While [al-Ḥamad 2006] mentioned the political movements of the Kurdish tribes to some extent,
there are not much information on the current political and social roles of the Kurdish tribes.
The period since the end of the WWI, the French mandatory rule and the independence therefrom, theannexation with Egypt and the slip therefrom, and the Middle East wars until now is the period in which
the environment surrounding the Syrian tribes have changed dramatically. The important ones in thechanges are: the significant deterioration in the military and transport advantages of the tribes due tothe prevalence of automobiles and airplanes, the economic improvement of the tribes having made a
success in agricultural business, and out-migration of many leaders of traditionally dominant tribes suchas Shammar, Fadahrn??, and Rualla in disfavor of the socialist political measures after 1950's. Whenthe Ba'ath party came into power in 1963, the agricultural land reforms and denial of the political andsocial roles of the tribe leaders lowered the status of the tribes. It was deduced that the reasons behindthese measures were the program of the Ba'ath party to reform the latifundism of the tribe leaders andthe tribe's nomadic life (al-Badāwa) [Takaoka 2011: 152]. When Hāfiz al-Asad (H. Asad) came in power
in 1970, he alleviated the policy of excluding the influence of tribes, resulting an increase in the numberof tribe leaders elected as senators in the people's council serving as a parliament. On the other hand,
the inclusion of the tribe leaders in the council was sometimes considered as being politically nonsubstantial and they were judged as not being influential on the base of the Asad regime, while thepolitical power and economic interest are concentrated on H. Asad and his kin under the rule of theBa'ath party based on secular and socialist thought [Tomizuka 1996: 185].
In this point, Chatty, who have done great works on the survey of the Syrian tribes based on field
investigation, considers that the implementation of such a system to the grouping and unionization of
the livestock industry that the tribe leaders tend to be the supervisors of the group/union is the start of"re-recognition" of the political and social status of the tribe leaders, arguing that the tribes had somepolitical and social roles under the Asad regime. More important is the episode that the Asad regime
blocked the logistic route from Iraq to Hama in the "Hama incident" (1982) via the "coalition" with the
Hadidiyn, a tribe in Homs [Chatty 2010: 44-45]. The episode explains that the relationship establishmentwith a tribe or a possible role of a tribe had deeply involved in the Syrian politics and civil order as wellas the existence of Asad regime. Moreover, Perthes named some tribe leaders as the beneficiaries of
the circumvention of the law in land owning and utilization in addition of high-ranking military andgovernment officers, pointing out that there were some tribe leaders got economic benefits by
establishing a close tie with the Asad regime [Perthes 1995: 88-89]. In view of these points, we can saythat the political and social status or roles of Syrian tribes had not been diminished for disorganizedunder the Asad regime, rather they had continuously existed firmly. On the other hand, the Asad regime
did not established the relationship with the tribes according to the powers or the ranking order of thetribes at the time. The Asad regime distinguished which tribes to politically incorporate and which tribes
to exclude, according to the intensions and purposes of the regime, reorganizing the ranking order andpowers of the tribes and incorporating the tribes into the regime as supporting bases and humanresources [Takaoka 2012: 102-103].
2．Syrian Civil War and Tribes
The succession of the regime from H. Asad to Bashshār al-Asad (B. Asad), and the political, economic,
and social changes in Syria under the B. Asad regime are some factors behind the eruption of the Syrian
civil war. Moreover, some of the tribes held a meeting of "Syrian Tribal Committee" outside Syria in April,2011 to rally as an anti-government movement. Regarding the relationship between the B. Asad regime
and the tribes, and the behavior and roles of the tribes in the Syria Civil War, Dukhan made somediscussion based on hearing investigation to some people from the tribes. According to his discussion,
the B. Asad regime considered it important to give the interests to Alawi, while the other tribes could not
get the interests of oil (especially in the north east part of Syria). Furthermore, because the B. Asad

regime did not support the tribal people suffered from the drought around 2010, the tribal people in
Hasakah, Raqa, and Homs moved to the environs of the large cities, and collectively stayed in specificcity blocks, keeping their tribal lifestyle habits and communities. Further, Dukhan pointed out that therevolt in Daraa in March, 2011 triggering the civil war was started and aggravated by the insult to thetribes by senior officials in the security institution, and he argues that such an incident occurred underthe B. Asad regime because it lacked the knowhow to deal with the tribes, and it would not occur under
H. Asad [Dukhan 2015].
In addition to the analysis, Dukhan also reported which side the tribes belonged as of 2014. According
to his report, Hariri (Southern part), Naim (Southern part, Midland), Fawaa'irah (Midland), Shammar(Eastern part and Northern part) are on the anti-government side, and Hadidiyn (Midland), Fad'an(Eastern part and Northern part), Jabbur (Eastern part and Northern part), Tayi (Eastern part andNorthern part) are not the pro-government side. Some tribes such as Hasanah (Midland), Aqaydat(Midland, Eastern Part, and Northern part) were split within the tribes, while some such as Mawali(Midland) and Busha'ban (Eastern part and Northern part) had been undecided [Dukhan 2014: 15].
Similarly, Chatty reported on the attitudes of the tribes, stating that Hasanah, Mawali, and part of
Hadidiyn had joined the anti-government armed struggle, and Aqaydat had formed a large armed force
with the aid of Saudi Arabia, while the tribes in a close tie with the security institution and part of Baggara
were on the pro-government side. Moreover, regarding the attitude of the tribes in the Syria Civil War
he indicated that there is such tendency that the "distinguished" tribes such as Shammar whose leaders
have moved out of the country due to the exclusion under the Asad regime were on the anti-governmentside, and the "ordinary" tribes remained in Syria are on the pro-government side [Chatty 2013].
Moreover, Takaoka analyzed the tribal candidates elected in the People's Council Election in 2012 andfound that the measures for selectively incorporating and excluding the tribes according to the interestsof Asad regime were succeeded to the B. Asad regime, incorporating Safusana, Urda, Aqaydat, Tayi
etc. giving them some seats in the People's Council. According to Takaoka, the president B. Asad has
visited Hasakah (2002, 2011), Dayr az Zawr (2007), and Raqa (2011), and has repeatedly had official
meeting with the leaders of the tribes after the erupt of the Civil War, making the relationship between
the government and the tribes more visible under the rule of the president B. Asad [Takaoka 2012: 103109].
Fig. Distribution of Tribes in Syria[Source] Created by the author based on [Dukhan 2014], [Chatty 2013], [Takaoka 2012]
In the Syria Civil War, the expanding the sphere of influences of the Islamic extremists such as the"Islamic State" and "Nusra Front", which is al-Qaeda in Syria, and "Ahrar al-Sham" has been aninternational issue. It is necessary to discuss the relationship between these groups and the tribes.
Regarding the relationship between the Islamic extremists and the tribes, there is a precedence in Iraq
next to Syria, which we should take into consideration. In Iraq, the "Islamic State in Iraq" (thepredecessor of the current "Islamic State") expanded their sphere of influences since 2011 after theysignificantly reduced it between 2008 and 2010. They occupied Mosul in June, 2014, and establishedthe "Islamic state," announcing the establishment of "Caliphate." The rise of the Islamic state issometimes reasoned in that the Iraqi government failed to win over the tribes while the "Islamic state
rehabilitated the relationship with the tribes. Cigar presented a study that discussed the fall and rise ofthe "Islamic state in Iraq" in Iraq in association with not only the wise and unwise attitudes of the Iraqi
government but also of the "Islamic state in Iraq" to the tribes. The study pays attention to the avoidanceof conflicts with local tribes and reconciliation with tribes by the "Islamic state in Iraq." There are manyfactors for the aggravated relationship between the "Islamic state in Iraq" and the Iraqi tribes. The maincauses of the conflicts were because the "Islamic state in Iraq" forced the marriage between the foreign
fighters and women in the local tribes in order to let the foreign fighters settle in Iraq, to which they haveno territorial bond nor blood tie, and attempted to monopoly the interests in the vehicles and cargos
travelling the trade route.
The "Islamic state in Iraq" tried to solve the causes of the conflicts and to avoid problems with the local
tribes, thereby regaining the sphere of influences in Iraq [Cigar 2011: 100-121]. While the "Islamic statein Iraq" was changing into the current "Islamic state," they might adopt their experience in Iraq to therelationship with the Syrian tribes. The "marriage Jihad" to bring women from the outside of Iraq and
Syria into the "Islamic state" and the trading non-Muslim women in the "slave market" started at theearly state of the "Islamic state" for satisfying the sexual needs of the fighters can be regarded as theattempt to avoid the conflicts with the local communities such as tribes. Moreover, the "Islamic state"have repeatedly made PR to show the declaration of royalty by the local tribes in Iraq and Syria, or thegood relationship with the tribes. Regarding the motive of the tribes for the cooperation with the Islamic
extremists such as the "Islamic state," Dukhan has pointed out that the tribes and the "Islamic state"share the same interest in stopping the expansion of the sphere of influence of Kurds, allying
conveniently [Dukhan 2014]. It is doubtful that this explanation could well explain the situations in Homs,
Hama, and Idlib, where the influences of Kurds would not reach much.
Photo: the Islamic state letting the tribe leaders declare their royalty.
[Source]However, it seems that the relationship between the Syrian tribes and the "Islamic state" is notcooperative or reciprocal. The relationship between the Syrian tribes and the "Islamic state" is that thelatter subdues and suppresses the former, and the "Islamic state" does not tend to admit the statuses
and roles of the tribes and the leaders thereof. Regarding the attitudes of the "Islamic state" to the tribes
in Syria, the information on the incident in Dayr az Zawr is relatively available. According to theinformation, Baggara declared the royalty to the "Islamic state" at a relatively early stage among thetribes in Dayr az Zawr, helping the "Islamic state to occupy the most of Dayr az Zawr in the summer of2014, expelling the "Nusra Front," with which the "Islamic state was competing. On the other hand,
Shutaiat Belonging to Aqaydat made arm uprising against the "Islamic state," and purged with nearly
1000 of them executed. Meanwhile, "Safir", a Lebanon newspaper (pro-left wing, pro-Arabism) as of
May 28, 2015 said that the relationship between the tribes in Dayr az Zawr and the "Islamic state" or the"Nusra Front" is prohibited to be coexistent or cooperative due to the difference in the purposes between
the tribes acting for the sake of the local political and economic power and the Islamic extremists aiming
for the global Jihad. According to the news, even Baggara having declared the royalty to the "Islamicstate" at the relatively early stage has not received any special privilege in Dayr az Zawr under thecontrol of the "Islamic state", and has been looted for belongings [al-Safīr 2015]. The incident in Dayraz Zawr indicates that the tribes will be resolved or purged no matter whether they want to cooperateand coexist with the "Islamic state" or they resist and confront against the "Islamic state." We can saythat the Syria Civil War, and the weakening of the Asad regime and the strengthening of the Islamic
extremists in association with the war have jolted the statuses and roles of the Syrian tribes, facilitating
the dismantling of the political and social roles of the tribes.
Conclusion: Foresights
Here, we try to foresee how the tribes behaves in the Syrian Civil War and what kinds of statues androles the tribes will have in the Syrian politics and society. Now the possibility that the Islamic extremists
such as the "Islamic state" and "Nusra Front", and the "anti-government sides" militarily depending on
and assimilating with the Islamic extremists will win the war, and it has become difficult to imagine thedefeat or turnover of the Asad regime. In these circumstances, there are motives for the tribes on the"anti-government side" to seek arbitration or reconciliation with the government, considering the future.
In this point, Chatty predicted that the tribes doubtlessly would change their sides to the pro-governmentside once the occupying areas of the government expand, while he also pointed out that it would benecessary for the government to invite the tribes for the political and social reconciliation [Chatty 2013].

According to his comments, the approach from the Asad regime to the tribes is predicted based on theobservation that the tribes tend to support Arabism since the WWI until today. If the Syrian Civil War is
considered as a religious conflict between sects, we should consider that the relationship between the
Syrian tribes, whose majority is Sunnah Muslims, and Asad regime is intransigent and non-reconciling.
But it cannot explain why the attitude of the tribes are so various to include the pro-government and antigovernment, as discussed in this study. In this sense, we cannot ignore the possibility that the Asadregime tries to rebuild the relationship with the tribes by persuading them based on the Arabism andpatriotism to Syria, in order to win over the tribes. If such an attempt is actually tried and succeeded, it
will result in not only the improvement of the political status of the tribes but also expansion of theiractivities in the field of military and civil order by being tribal militia.
On the other hand, referring to the [Dukhan 2014]'s analysis that the tribes and the "Islamic state" sharethe interest to stop the expansion of the sphere of influence of Kurds, allying conveniently, we can predictthat the support of the "Syrian Democratic Force" with the "Partiya Yekîtiya Demokrat" (PYD) and"Yekîneyên Parastina Gel" (YPG) as its main forces by America and her allies to make the group as theground force against the "Islamic state" will result in reducing the motive to leave from the "Islamic state."
As in the incident in the Dayr az Zawr, the "Islamic state" has a greater tendency to suppress anddissolve the political and social roles of the tribes than the Asad regime. Therefore, there is a room tocriticize or review the observation that the tribes and the "Islamic state" cooperate with each other, even
if it is for convenience. However, when the Kurd issue in Syria is taken into consideration, the relationshipbetween the Kurds and the Arabic tribes would highly possibly be a factor to prolong this civil war or
crease a new factor of post-war turmoil. In the area in Hasakah along the border with Turkey, whicharea is the core of the Kurdish currently occupying area, the "Arab belt" project of expelling Kurds via
land expropriation and purging and settling Arabs had been carried out from the end of the 1950's to1980's. In this project, some tribes such as Bulsaan acted as the vanguard of the settling in the "Arabbelt." Moreover, Tayi in Hasakah living next to or together with Kurds has been a close tie with the Ba'ath
party since 1960' and is considered as a pro-Asad regime side even today.
Therefore, the occupation of the area along the border with Turkey by the Kurdish force would be for
Kurds to regain the deprived land or interests, that is to expel the settle Arabs and tribes. If the tribes
tried to fight against the expansion of the sphere of the Kurdish influence by gaining the support fromthe Islamic extremists or the Asad regime, the "ethnic issue" would come up again in Syria. In addition
to this, Dukhan showed a concern about possible "power vacuum" in the Syria North East area after
mopping up of the "Islamic state [Dukhan 2015]. This concern is based on the prediction that the regime
will fill in the "power vacuum" with high possibility that the regime at least temporally revenges the tribesthat have supported "Islamic state" etc. There is a high possibility that the spheres of influences suchas the ranking order of the local tribes mainly in the Raqa, Dayr az Zawr, and Hasakah will be largely
changed after the mopping-up of the "Islamic state" and the end of the civil war.
Finally this study discusses the question whether the Syrian "dissolution" is irreversible, in view of thepolitical and social roles of the tribes. The Asad regime has been clearly weaker in terms of military force
than before the civil war. Thus, they may enhance the cooperation with the tribes or the use of tribes tocover the loss of the military force or regain the control of the local areas. In such a case, the Syrian
administration will be decentralized or the tribes will have more seats in the council, cabinet, military,and the intelligence institution. On the other hand, because the Asad regime has made different
approaches to different tribes or subtribes throughout the civil war, the possibility to "establish a Sunnah
government system in comparison with the Asad regime = Alawīya" is not so realistic. If a "Sunnah
government system" occurs based on a simple sectarian concept in Syria, the government system will
be instable one including various chasms such as between tribes and cities, between different tribes,
and between Arabs and non-Arabs. Here, it is important to note that the relationship between thegovernment/society and the tribes is not one side is influencing the other in one way but both sides are
influencing each other in two ways. This means that the lack of strengths in the city areas and thegovernment power therein adversely affects the lives of tribes in terms of, for example, keeping the
ranking order within the tribes or with the outside forces. Such an anarchic environment where the tribes
each struggle to protect or expand their interests by force would not be beneficial for the tribes either.
Even though they are grouped as "tribes," each tribe makes a homogenous and uniform reaction to acertain political environment or approach, or makes a homogenous and uniform approach to the stateor government, without any differences among the tribes. This is the reason why the tribes have taken
various attitudes in the Syrian Civil war since 2011. We can consider that the policy by the Syrian
government, especially, the Asad regime to the tribes are accumulations of approaches to andrelationships with individual tribes and the individuals acting as the tribe leaders. Thus, if the presenceor the roles of the tribes is considered as important in studying the future Syrian situation, the analysis
on the tribes should be based on the accumulation of observation of the behaviors made by individual
tribes and the leaders thereof.

Referential Literatures
However, these were not to completely restore the statuses of the tribe leaders. The suppression on thetribe's influences was also continued by enforcing stricter farmland reform etc. [Takaoka 2011: 159]
According to Chatty, there were 30 "Bedouin" senators in the 250-membered People's Council in 2010,
almost doubling the number of tribal senators from 10 out of 134 in 1943 [Chatty 2010 47]. This reportis based on an anonymous information source and is not clear whether it has checked the origins of thesenators referring to the actual list of senators and the council members. However, it is still interesting
as information showing one aspect of the tribal political status under the Asad regime.
An incident in which the uprising of the Muslim Brotherhood in Hama city in Hama pref. The city of Hama
was completely destroyed. It is said a few thousand to 30 thousand people were killed in the incident.
See [Middle East Investigation Committee, Islamic Extremist Monitoring Group 2015: 116-125] for the
women, marriage, and sexual satisfaction as welfare for fighters in the "Islamic state."
The latest PR image published by the "Islamic state" for the relationship with the tribes as of writing thispaper is a 10-min video created by the state of Nineveh, titled "Good News on the supports to the tribes."
In the video, they condemned the attitudes of the U.S., Saudi Arabia etc. to the Iraqi tribes and describes
the good relationship between the "Islamic state" and the tribes.
The "Islamic state" has published "Royalty to Islam, not to homelands or ethnic group" created by Hinma
Library in August 30, 2015. It seems that the "Islamic state" considers the sense of belonging or royalty
should be directed to "Islam", and does not welcome the sense of belonging or royalty to thecommunities other than Islam.
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