During its inauguration conference Aug. 28, the Arab Bakara tribe announced the establishment of a Shura Council in Syria’s northwestern city of Idlib, which is under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

On Aug. 30, the Lebanese Al-Modon newspaper quoted a source from the Bakara tribe as saying, “HTS sponsored the tribe’s conference, which was attended by representatives of HTS and its salvation government, in addition to several sheikhs and dignitaries from the Council of Syrian Tribes and Clans. Sheikh Youssef Arbash was elected as head of the Shura Council, along with two deputies — Asaad Issa al-Sheikh and Asaad al-Ali.”

Mohammed al-Hassan Abu al-Abed, one of the dignitaries of the Bakara tribe in Idlib, told Al-Monitor, “The Bakara tribe includes 29 clans mainly scattered in the governorates of Aleppo, Idlib, Hama, Homs, Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor and Hasakah. Twenty-one of these clans are located in opposition-controlled areas. Our goal is to have the Shura Council unite the tribesmen in all of these areas. Each clan has its own council, and we, as the people of this tribe, were able to gather these clans in the HTS-controlled areas as well as in those held by the Free Syrian Army [FSA].”

He said, “Many tribesmen are members of HTS, fighting against the Syrian regime. Our conference was the most popular among the tribal conferences in the area with over 5,000 people attending.”