Kalbiyya

Kalbiyya الكلبية
Alawite Syrian tribal confederation
Kalbiyya tribal areas, northwestern Syria
Ethnicity	Arab
Location	Nusayri mountains region, Syria
Population	480,000 (est. 2011)[1]
Branches	Rashawneh Junaydi Al-Nawasireh Al-Jurud Al-Qarahilah
Language	Levantine Arabic (Alawite dialect)
Religion	Alawite

The Kalbiyya (Arabic: القلبية), 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.