Renewed clashesbetween Syrian security forces and Kurdish fightersin the Aleppo region are a reminder ofthevolatilecommunal andsectarian tensions that continue to roil the country more than a year after the fall of theAssaddynasty.

The latest violence follows weeks of deadly clashes last summerpitting Bedouin tribesmen against Druze militiasin the countrys south, and after themassacre of Alawite civiliansin their western heartlandin March and April of last year.

Each bout of violence underscores thedaunting challenge facing Syrias new rulers as they grapple with thecomplex, fragileethnoreligiousmosaic ofa countryravaged by more than a decade of civil war and riven with bitterdivides.

While the focus is on Syrias vulnerable minorities, the countrys Sunni majority itself divided along tribal linesand past opposition or allegiance to the Assads holdsthekey tostabilisingthe country and staving offfurthersectarian strife.

With that aim in mind,theSyrian presidencyset up an Office ofTribes andClansin Septemberheaded byJihad Issa al-Sheikh, also known by his nom de guerre Abu AhmedZakour, a longtime fellow traveller of Syria's rebel-turned-presidentAhmed al-Sharaa.

FRANCE 24sWassim Nasrwas able to meet with al-Sheikh and other members of the officeat its three regional branches in Aleppo,Hamaand Idlib, gaining exclusive insight into a body that aims to play a key role in the Syrian reconciliation process.

In Aleppo, oldgrudges and shifting alliances

Strategically placed alongside Aleppo's Bureau of political affairs, the localbranchof the Office of Tribes and Clanshas moved intothe former premises of the Baathpartythat ruled Syria for decades under the Assads.

Itstask is tomaintainthe non-aggression pact betweenSyrias former rebels andtheSunni militiasthathadpreviously backed the Assad regime, beforeswitchingsidesduring the lightening offensive led by SharaasHayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)in November 2024.

It was their change of allegiance thatled tothe fall ofAleppo, Syriaseconomic capital,in just three days, hastening the end ofAssad rule.

Read moreSyria after Assad: Journey through a war-ravaged nation in transition

The largest of these militias, theal-Baqir Brigade,had previouslyreceived funding from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and was entrusted with conscripts from the Syrian regular army. Thiseffectively gave them the power of life and death over local inhabitants.

The rebels in Aleppo came from the same(Sunni)neighbourhoods(as the militiamen), said a witnessfrom the early days of the Syrian revolution in 2011,who traced existingrancoursto a notorious incidentinvolving a family accused of siding with the Assads.

The discord began when the head of theMeraaifamily and one of his sons were executed and their mutilated bodies displayedin publicfor several days, added the witness, describing their killingas a response to the shooting of anti-Assad demonstrators.

Alynchpin of the al-Baqir Brigade,theMeraaifamilywas widely seenasa toolof the Assad regimeto suppressopponents not necessarily acting on direct orders from Damascus, butratherto preserve itsfinancial interestsand thefavoursgranted by the regime.

Sitting onaplastic chair amid the ruins, aMeraaifamilymemberwho was imprisoned at the timehad a different take on the incident.He said the executionswere unjustified because wesimply dontknow who firedatdemonstrators from the rooftops.

Fifteenyearsonfrom thatfateful incident, his brothersKhaled and Hamza would play a key role in the liberation of Aleppo by Sharaas rebel coalition. After more than two years of negotiations and a visit toSharaas bastion inIdlib, Khaled al-Meraai was persuaded byhis fellowBagaraclansmanJihad Issa al-Sheikhthat the time had cometo abandon the Assads.

Seeing the tide turning, Khaled al-Meraaiagreed to secretlyharbouran HTS commando unit that would attacka strategic commandcentreof the Syrian army inAleppo.Months before the battle, scouts had infiltrated the city to prepare the ground, including Jihad Issa al-Sheikh's own brother, Abu Omar.

But this crucial role in the liberation of Aleppo has not erased, at least in the eyes of the early rebels, the Sunni familys earlier participation in the Assad regimes repressive apparatus.As the former inmate put it,ourrelatives will fleethe city, fearing revenge,if theydon'tsee me sitting in my chair here every day.

While theMeraaisstill ownvaluableproperties,includinga stud farm for purebred Arabian horses,they havebeen forced to returnsome of the assetsthat wereconfiscated from former rebels. The newSyrianauthorities are protectingthefamily,but withoutpublicly acknowledging thedeal that helped bring about the capture ofAleppo even though Hamza al-Meraaiwas recently photographed withan interior ministry spokespersonin Damascus.

In addition toSunnireconciliation, thesprawling multi-faith city faces formidablesecurity challenges. On New Year's Day, a member of the internal security forceswaskilled while preventinga suicide bomber fromattackinga Christian celebration. His funeral was attended bysenior officials including the interior minister as well as representatives ofAlepposChristian churches.

Afewkilometresnorth ofthe city,residents of the Shiite villages ofNubland Zahraliveunder heavy protection from the Syrian army. As soon as Aleppo wascaptured in late 2024,the villages sentrepresentatives to the city to obtainsecurityguarantees. Once again, Jihad Issa al-Sheikh, the presidential adviser, acted as mediator. Since then,there has been only one murder, said a local representative inNubl. In the early days, thelocal (HTS)commander slept here on the floor to ensure that there would be noabuses.

But the situationremainsprecarious for the Shiite villagers, who are mindful thatnearby Sunni villages are still in ruins.Our [Sunni]neighbourssee that we are protected, while they are unable to rebuild their villages and are still living in tents, said theNublresident. One can imagine and understand what they are going through.

Clan leaders gather in Damascus

On December 9, the Damascus home ofSheikh AbdelMenaamal-Nassifhosted a high-level meeting of clan representatives from acrossSyria, presenting the Office of Clans and Tribes withan idealplatformto send a message.

Addressing the assembly of senior clansmen, Jihad Issa al-Sheikh said the office was notdesignedto command you or replace you, but ratherto serve as a direct line to President Sharaa.He then issuedan advice to clans tarnished by collaboration with the deposed regime.

Those clans that were on Assads side should keep a low profile and put forward figures who have not been compromised. We need everyone, he added.We must turn the pageonold quarrelsonce and for allby supporting the state and not being a source ofdestabilisation.

Referring to recent sectarian classes, the top Sharaa aide said it was unacceptable for clans to take up arms at the slightest incident or to join the ranks of our enemies for one reason or another.

He added:We must rise to the challenges we have faced since the liberation of the country.

General Hamza al-Hmidi,the head of operations for the Syrian armed forces,then spoke ofthe deadly summer clashes inSweida,which saw Bedouin tribesmen converge on the southern province to fight local Druze militias, andled Israel to intervene militarily with strikes on security forces deployed to quell the bloodshed.

Wewere faced withmilitiamen firing at usatthe front andwithkillers and looters in our wake. These actions, which do not reflect our values, gave(the Israelis)a pretext to bomb us, forcing us toleave the cityin the hands of(Druze)militiamen, lamented theyoung general.

Read moreExclusive: On the ground in Sweida, a Syrian city torn by Druze-Bedouin clashes

The meeting touched on the sensitive subject of cronyism and political appointments, with clanleadersurged topresent qualified candidatesfor administration jobs and the future National Assembly and to refrain from promoting themselves or their relatives.The message was that the Baath party ways of coopting tribal and clan leadersthrough clientelismwould nolonger be accepted.

The meeting, attended by two representatives of Syrias new political bureau,led to animated debate.The idea of a "Council ofElders"composed ofclan leaderswasput forwarda means topreservetheir status and influence while separating their role from that of political institutions.

Itsa delicate balancefor Syrias new rulers, for whom gaining the support of clansnecessarily means makingconcessions,includingmaterial ones,particularly in areas that are stilloutsideDamascuss control.

Preventing vendettas in Hama and Homs

Theoffices Hama branch hadits baptism of firein the wake oftwo particularlygrislymurders innearbyHoms,whichkicked offattacks on Alawiteneighbourhoods.Itsprimarymission was clear: toease tensionsin Syrias third most populous city.

In the daysfollowing the murders, representatives of various clansacted quicklyto prevent an escalation,under the coordination ofSharaasadviseral-Sheikh.The investigation revealed that the murders of a married couple, initially presented assectarian,were infact an internal familyaffair. A joint letter fromcommunityleaders helped totamp down reprisalsand narrowly avert bloodshed.

Sheikh Abu Jaafar Khaldoun, head of the Hama office,stressed the importance ofinter-community dialogue.We need tostart from scratch and rebuildneighbourlyrelations, he said.This involves simple gestures, such as attending funerals.

Khaldounsaid interactions with the Alawite, Ismaili and Christian communities helped to defuse tensions after rebel forces took over Hama and then Homs.

We wasted no time after liberation, for fear of reprisals between communities, and even within each community, he explained. The first few months were tense, and some people took advantage of the situationto settle old scores.

In Idlib, a laboratory for reconciliation

A rebel bastion and launchpad for the lighting offensive that toppled Assad, northwestern Idlibprovincehas also served as a model for the type of conflict resolution advocated bySyria's new leaders.

Startingin 2017,Sharaas HTSbeganto workwith local clanswith a pragmatic goal: toresolve conflicts between rival factions in areas outside the regime's control, drawing on clan ties sharedbothby residents andthe provinceslarge numberof internally displaced people.Aftera series ofmilitary setbacks in 2019, the clans weregradually integrated as a supporting force for HTSand the "SyrianSalvation Government" that administeredthe rebel holdout.

This dual experience, both military and mediatory, isthe foundation of the new Office of Clans and Tribes, whose leaders arelargely drawn from the ranks of Idlibs displaced population.

A key role of the offices local branch is tomaintaina link between the new Syrian authorities and displaced people from eastern Syria. The latter includeboth the clansbasedin areas controlled by theKurdish-ledSyrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and displaced peoplefrom Raqqa,Hassakaor Deir ez-Zorpopulations often buffeted by war, forceddisplacementand shifting alliances.

Efforts to tilt the tribal balance haveweighedheavily in recent military realignments. Most recently in Aleppo andmonths before in nearbyManbij,shiftsinclan alliances havefacilitatedthe recapture of entireneighbourhoodspreviously held by Kurdish forces, illustrating the decisive roleplayed byJihad Issa al-Sheikhand his office in reshapingthe balance of power on the ground.

For the new regime, the stakes are primarily political andsecurity-related. The eastern provinces provide most of the SDF's recruits whileat the same timeconstituting a potential breeding ground for jihadist groups.To alienate them once morewould be to repeat the mistakes that in the past pushed certain clansinto the arms oftheAssadregime,Kurdishforcesor theIslamic State(IS) group.

Read moreTaking stock of Sharaas rule in Syria, one year after the fall of Assad

Reassuring the Sunni majority and healing the deep dividesleftbyyears of war is a matter of survival for the new Syrian authorities. Lasting stability can only come from internal dynamics, driven by Syrians themselves. In this context, the Office of Tribes and Clansholdsakey placeat the intersection of community tensions and the most sensitive security issues. The statedobjectiveis not tomarginalisethe clans, but to integrate them as actors ofstabilisation.

The authorities are claiminga number ofresults since the offices creation, includingde-escalation in Homs, themanagement ofprotestsincoastal areas home to many Alawites,and a gradual decline in assassinations targeting former members of theAssadregime. Despite the recent deadly clashes in Aleppo, theability topreventa major escalation in fighting over sensitiveneighbourhoods previously held by Kurdish factions isalsopresented asconcreteillustration of thisnew approach.

This article was translated fromthe original in French.

Originally published on France24