Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Professor Chatty talks to Syria Deeply about the role of tribes in the conflict, and their participation in an eventual peace process

Last week, fighters from the Sheitaat tribe took on ISIS in the oil-rich Syrian province of Deir Ezzor. In a Syria Deeply article published 1 August entitled 'As ISIS Advances in Eastern Syria, Local Tribes Stand in Its Way', Dawn Chatty discussed the complicated, shifting alliances between Syria's tribes and the various factions involved in the war. 

As Professor Chatty explained, the first priority for the tribes is to protect and support their communities, whether against government forces or extremist groups such as ISIS. When peace negotiations finally come, she believes the tribes will play a vital role in keeping the country together: 

What this fighting has done is make people realize that they represent 10 to 15 percent of the population, they're very well educated, and that they have been, in a way, the glue holding everything together rather than allowing it to splinter. If we have a concerted effort towards transitional justice and reconciliation, they will play a large part in that.

Read the article >>

RELATED CONTENT

Dawn Chatty People

Syria's Bedouin Enter the Fray External

Syrian tribes, national politics and the uprising External

Refugees from Syria: Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Research