How Syria's tribes hold the key to power

Haian Dukhan, a leading expert on Syria’s tribal dynamics, unpacks the stakes in the latest surge of violence between Sunni Bedouin tribes and the Druze minority in Suwayda.Retaining tribal support is essential for the country’s post-Assad regime. The government’s failure to quell clashes that have left more than 1,000 people dead has ignited Sunni anger and emboldened the Kurdish minority, which has forged its own Sunni tribal alliances.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On July 11, a group of PKK fighters burned their weapons in a ceremony marking the end of their forty-year-long armed campaign against the Kurdish state. Aliza Marcus, a leading expert on the militant group, says it is too early to determine whether the PKK will abandon armed struggle completely and that much depends on what steps Ankara is prepared to take to meet Kurdish demands.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Professor Mohsen Milani, the author of the recently published, "Iran's Rise and Rivalry with the U.S. in the Middle East," explains that airpower alone cannot dislodge Iran's clerical regime. With Iran capable of relaunching its nuclear program, the risk of further Israeli attacks is real. The outcome would likely be regional chaos. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Nacho Amor is the European Parliament's rapporteur on Turkey. Speaking to Al-Monitor, he blasts EU leaders for their silence over Turkey's appalling human rights record, including the jailing of more than a dozen democratically elected mayors from the main opposition CHP party. He also warns the country's Kurds — who are in the process of negotiating constitutional changes with the government that would allow the country's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, more powers in exchange for Kurdish rights — that without democracy for all, there can be none for a few.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Israel’s conflict with Iran has wiped out dozens of top military leaders and scientists and inflicted major damage on critical facilities, yet the regime has survived.The Iranian people have not risen up; to the contrary, they have rallied around the flag amid a surge in anti-Western sentiment. However, the regime will need to embark on serious reforms to keep the people on its side, says Iranian American academic Vali NasrSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As the Iran-Israel conflict enters its fifth day, there are growing signs that the United States will intervene on the side of its Israeli allies. Iranian scholar Hamidreza Azizi says Israel is aiming for regime change or to turn Iran into a failed state.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ankara's latest effort to end a four decades long Kurdish insurgency is opaque and is full of risks and opportunities for Turkey and Syria's Kurds says lawmaker Cengiz Candar.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Talmiz Ahmad, a former Indian ambassador to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, explains why Gulf nations led by Saudi Arabia tilt in favor of India despite long-running ties with Muslim Pakistan. Pakistan's refusal to join Saudi Arabia in its war against the Houthis — and a jihadi attack on Mumbai in 2008 — were a tipping point, he says.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Charles Lister, the head of the Syria Initiative at the Middle East Institute in Washington, argues that after five months in power Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the ultimate pragmatist, is adjusting to the complexity of governing his ethnically diverse and fractured country. This involves striking deals with the Kurds and Druze that fly in the face of the rigidly centralized model he once espoused. And contrary to popular belief he is not a "Turkish puppet,” Lister says.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Makram Rabah, an assistant professor at the American University in Beirut, says that Syria's interim president lacks the power to control his own army and that Washington needs to engage with Syria's new government to help defuse sectarian violence and for peace to prevail in the war-ravaged country.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.