Dr Haian Dukhan writes expert reports on Syria for the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber). His reports address forced recruitment by Kurdish-led forces and the new Syrian army, honour-based and tribal violence including risk to women, former-regime and opposition profiles, and risk to Alawites, Christians, Druze and Kurds after December 2024. They also cover stateless Kurds, state protection, return and internal relocation. He also writes reports on Iraq involving Arab tribes, tribal militias and blood feuds.
He is a Syrian-British political scientist, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Teesside University, and a Fellow of the Centre for Syrian Studies at the University of St Andrews. He completed his PhD at St Andrews in 2017. His research draws on original Arabic-language fieldwork, and he writes regular analysis on Syria’s politics and security for Oxford Analytica.
Syria: all aspects of politics and security before and after December 2024, including the new authorities, General Security and state protection. Kurdish-led forces (SDF/YPG), forced recruitment and integration into the army. Arab tribes, Bedouin and blood feuds. Honour-based violence, including risk to women. Sunni, Alawite, Druze, Christian and Kurdish communities. Stateless Kurds (Maktoumeen). Former-regime, NDF and FSA profiles. Return after long absence and internal relocation.
Iraq: Arab tribes, tribal militias and the Popular Mobilisation Forces, honour and blood-feud disputes.
Jordan: tribes, and Syrian refugees in Jordan.
Lebanon and Turkey: Syrian refugees and Syrian communities.
Prepares expert reports for the First-tier Tribunal on Syria, funded by Legal Aid, the Scottish Legal Aid Board and private clients. Provides country information on Syria to the Dutch, Austrian and Danish refugee councils.
Books:
- State and Tribes in Syria: Informal Alliances and Conflict Patterns (Routledge, 2019)
- Rewriting Kinship: War and the Reconfiguration of Tribal Identity in Syria (Cambridge University Press, under contract)
- Spoils of War in the Arab East (co-editor, Bloomsbury, 2024)
Selected articles:
- “Mechanisms of mobilisation under authoritarian rule: The Druze protest movement of 2023 in Sweida”, Third World Quarterly (2026)
- “Memory, fear, and manipulated sectarianism: Christian views and intercommunal dynamics in al-Hasakah”, Digest of Middle East Studies, 33(3) (2024), co-authored
- “Explaining sectarian dynamics in the Syrian governorate of Deir Ezzor”, Middle East Law and Governance (2024), co-authored
- “Tribal mobilisation forces in Iraq”, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 50(5) (2023)
- “Tribal mobilisation during the Syrian civil war: The case of al-Baqqer brigade”, Small Wars & Insurgencies, 33(7) (2022)
Full list of publications: haiandukhan.com