• Country/entity

  Syria
  

• Region

  Middle East and North Africa
  

• Agreement name

  Agreement on Local Councils between Tribes and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)

• Date

  23 Jul 2017

• Agreement status

  Multiparty signed/agreed

• Interim arrangement

  Yes

• Agreement/conflict level

  Intrastate/local conflict ( Syrian Conflicts (1948 - ) (1976 - 2005) (2011 - ) )

• Stage

  Framework/substantive - partial

• Conflict nature

  Inter-group

• Peace process

  Syrian Local Agreements

• Parties

  Idlib Tribes - six signatories, but all illegible.
  [Ostensibly with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham organisation as statement is in response to their call]

• Third parties

  -

• Description

  Statement issued in response the statement, "The Ongoing Revolution" issued by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham on establishing a civil administration to rule areas under opposition control, the Idlib tribes issue a pre-negotiation document outlining (1) the principle: supporting the formation of civil administration and (2) the process: by establishing a conference between military and civil forces.

• Agreement document

  SY_170723_Agreement on Local Councils for Idlib between HTS and Idlib tribes_EN.pdf | Download PDF

• Agreement document (original language)

  SY_170723_Agreement on Local Councils for Idlib between HTS and Idlib tribes_AR.pdf | Download PDF

Local agreement properties

• Process type

  Isolated example
  

• Rationale

  -> Local issues only; no external support mechanism; no culture of signing The agreement cannot be placed within the context of a systematic process of local agreements. There were no established mechanisms to support the negotiation. Moreover, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has a Salafist ideology; it opposes the rule of Bashar al-Assad in Syria and rejects the idea of a national negotiation to solve the conflict.

• Is there a documented link to a national peace process?

  No

• Link to national process: articulated rationale

  No link to the national peace process in Syria is mentioned in the agreement, neither it can be inferred from further research. First, the agreement does not involve local governance actors; and the signing parties themselves are not official state representative. Second, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rejects the national peace process, as it would maintain Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian government in power. Yet, the agreement is related to multiple local level processes in Idlib governorate in July 2017.

• Name of Locale

  NA

• Nature Of Locale

  Region

• GPS Lat/Long (DD)

  35.931901, 36.635741

• Participant type

  Domestic religious organisation/leader or other elder
  

• Mediator, facilitator or similar

  No mention of mediator or similar

Local issues

In the Name of Allah the Merciful

Praise be to Allah the Lord of the worlds and may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon the most honoured of messengers, and upon all his family and companions, and after.

Due to the urgent need to consolidate the disputes and heal the wounds on the fields of Syria and to continue and preserve the revolution, following the call of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham [Organisation for the Liberation of the Levant] in its statement titled “The Ongoing Revolution”, issued on 23/7/2017.

[In the statement], we saw a blessing step regarding the establishment of a civil administration to rule the liberated areas.

It will be involved in all legal, revolutionary, political, tribal and civil affairs.

They will also possess the military force of the resistance to the regime of Ward Sayaleh and of liberating the rest of Syria.

We declare the following:

1- We support this project which gives our people a chance to administer the liberated areas beyond military force. [

We also support] its implications.

2- We request that a conference should be hold, at which all the revolutionary and civil force will participate.

We also announce our willingness to participate at it.

We say to our people:

Try to have the taste of victory after years spent making the highest and most precious sacrifices.

[Illegible] [Illegible] [Illegible]

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