Brothers in arms
Plot twists in the Deir Ezzor tribal revolt

The Bedouin soap opera is an underappreciated genre of Arab television drama. Set usually in pre-1945 traditional Levantine village settings, it tells the story of ambitious men (often related by blood) competing over power, money, and the love of a beautiful woman. The plotlines are moralistic, not unlike a John Wayne Western, and tend to revolve around themes of honour, revenge, and the patriarchy. 

Should Netflix consider making a modern day musalsal badawi, they should look no further than the present drama unfolding in Deir Ezzor. The tribal revolt there, launched in August by the Hifel brothers against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has come unstuck as clans desert them and close family members plot against them. But the two brothers also have their own differences: the moderate and Qatar-backed Musab (the older brother and recognised chief of the Ugaidat tribe) wanted to cooperate with the US for better terms, while the hot-headed younger brother Ibrahim (the field commander), who received support in men and weapons from the regime and the IRGC, point blank refused. Following an SDF counter-insurgency sweep of restive towns east of the Euphrates, Ibrahim fled with a handful of men and is now believed to be hiding out somewhere on the western bank of the Euphrates under regime protection. The revolt now largely consists of shelling and counter-shelling, much to the annoyance of civilians. 

Ibrahim’s collusion with the regime and Iran means that he has become accredited as “their man.” This has not gone down well with important clans from within the Ugaidat, like the Bukayr, the Gur’an, the Shu’atat, and the Burhama, who decided that an open-ended war with the SDF was not for them, and that an American security umbrella was preferable to an Iranian one. But the tribal revolt started off as a genuine expression of popular disillusionment with the SDF administration of the province, and the primary reason for it – the demand for a greater share of the oil wealth – is reasonable and legitimate. Step forward Hifel al-Hifel, US-based uncle to the Hifel brothers who successfully lobbied Washington to stop talking to his nephews and to listen to him instead. He harbours ambitions to become the chief of the Ugaidat, and US patronage appears a sure way of achieving that. He is so determined to be the only senior member of the Hifel family to be physically present in Deir Ezzor that he reportedly blocked the return of Musab from his Doha exile after convincing the SDF not to trust him. 

The scheming uncle went a step further by enlisting the help of a former Islamic State operative named Ammar al-Hadawi. The latter is a maternal cousin to the Hifel brothers and is known to be a shrewd and silver-tongued politician with a penchant for switching allegiances at opportune times. Having started with the Free Syrian Army, he progressed to supporting Islamic State (IS) but defected in late-2015 and fled to Turkey, where he became a founder member of the pro-Ankara Council of Syrian Tribes and Clans, before falling out with the Turks and being deported back to Syria. In late November he returned to Deir Ezzor at the head of an impressive convoy of 4X4 pick-ups after agreeing a deal with the SDF brokered by Hifel al-Hifel. Concretely, this meant accepting the three conditions laid out by the Americans in their unsuccessful negotiations with the Hifel brothers: cutting all ties to the regime and the IRGC, no SDF withdrawal from Deir Ezzor, and no harbouring of IS sleeper cells. In return, the Arab tribes were promised greater say over civil administration, i.e. more oil money.    

Hifel al-Hifel accepted the US terms on behalf of the Ugaidat and tasked fellow tribesman Al-Hadawi with making it happen. Al-Hadawi joined forces with another cousin, Mohammad Ramadan al-Muslih (aka “The Hyena”), a former IS emir turned SDF commander and Bukamil clan enforcer. Crucially, Al-Hadawi wants the leadership of the all-important Deir Ezzor Military Council (DMC) for himself and sees the support of the individual clans that make up the Ugaidat tribe as key to achieving that. Sources suggest that Al-Hadawi is currently engaged in efforts to win over the Bukayr clan by arranging for the release of its clansman Ahmad al-Khubail (Abu Khawla) from SDF custody (his arrest having triggered the tribal revolt) and giving him back his ‘territory’ north of the province. The 5 December assassination of Shirwan Hasan, the Kurdish SDF commander in effective control of the DMC, was a more than convenient coincidence as he was accused by Arab tribes of mismanagement, corruption, and murder.   

For now, the Hifel brothers have been outmanoeuvred by their more pragmatic uncle and cousin. By offering themselves as pliable US clients operating under the SDF banner, they have an opportunity to reconfigure the tribal power balance in their favour. There is no guarantee that it will work, and no assurance that they themselves will not be usurped by jealous relatives. Deir Ezzor’s soap opera continues.