The assassination of prominent tribal leader Basheer al-Huwaidi in Raqqa earlier this month triggered an outcry from local tribal leaders in the province, who held the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) responsible for the murder and called for a total boycott of SDF-run institutions.
The chaotic aftermath of al-Huwaidi’s assassination exposes the fragility of the complex web of clientelist tribal networks that much of Raqqa’s governance structures rely on. Some expect to see more tensions in the future, as local actors try to mobilize tribes to their advantage.
