Kalbiyya

Kalbiyya
الكلبية
Alawite Syrian tribal confederation
Kalbiyya tribal areas,
northwestern Syria
EthnicityArab
LocationNusayri mountains region, Syria
Population480,000 (est. 2011)[1]
Branches
  • Rashawneh
  • Junaydi
  • Al-Nawasireh
  • Al-Jurud
  • Al-Qarahilah
LanguageLevantine Arabic (Alawite dialect)
ReligionAlawite

The Kalbiyya (Arabic: الكلبية), or Kalbi or Kelbi tribe[2] is one of four tribes, or tribal confederations, of the Alawite community in Syria. Appearing in historical sources from the 16th century, the Kalbiyya came to prominence when Hafez al-Assad, the son of a Kalbiyya tribal leader, seized power in Syria in a coup in 1970. Assad ruled Syria as dictator for 30 years and ensured that power was concentrated in the hands of members of the Kalbiyya tribe, a policy which his son, Bashar Al-Assad, continued after he became president in 2000. The Kalbiyya population mainly live in the Latakia Governorate in north west Syria.

  1. ^ Goldsmith 2015, p. 7.
  2. ^ Winter 2016, p. 99.