[GUEST ACCESS MODE: Data is scrambled or limited to provide examples. Make requests using your API key to unlock full data. Check https://lunarcrush.ai/auth for authentication information.]  Aimen Dean [@AimenDean](/creator/twitter/AimenDean) on x 39.1K followers Created: 2025-07-18 17:44:54 UTC Only Riyadh Can Call Off the Storm It is understood that Israel has issued a 48-hour ultimatum: stop the violence in Suwayda, or face overwhelming strikes on Damascus. But this threat is dangerously misguided. The tribal fighters flooding Suwayda - now over XXXXXXX strong - do not answer to Damascus. President Ahmad al-Shar’a commands his army and police, not the tribes. Israel’s own airstrikes have made any state intervention impossible by enforcing a de facto demilitarization of the south. And now it expects that same state to control what no state in the Levant ever could. These tribes mobilise outside of state control only in the most exceptional circumstances. The last two times were to fight al-Qaeda and ISIS. Today, they see Hikmat al-Hijri’s Druze militias - rightly or wrongly- as another incarnation of the same threat. Bombing Damascus won’t stop them. It will enrage them. For every building hit in the capital, more homes will burn in Suwayda. There are no neat targets, just human waves. And striking them risks backlash from Israel’s own Bedouin population, who view these tribes as kin. There is only one man whose word could halt this: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. His authority - regal, tribal, religious, and moral - is unmatched. A call from the pulpits of Mecca and Medina could compel the tribes to stand down. But Riyadh will not intervene uninvited. The initiative must come from Israel - or through Washington. If President Trump wants to avoid a bloodbath, he should pick up the phone and ask the Crown Prince to speak. This is no longer a military crisis. It’s a tribal reckoning. And only Saudi Arabia holds the key to stopping it.  XXXXXX engagements  **Related Topics** [tribal](/topic/tribal) [israel](/topic/israel) [dean](/topic/dean) [Post Link](https://x.com/AimenDean/status/1946264932955148658)
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Aimen Dean @AimenDean on x 39.1K followers
Created: 2025-07-18 17:44:54 UTC
Only Riyadh Can Call Off the Storm
It is understood that Israel has issued a 48-hour ultimatum: stop the violence in Suwayda, or face overwhelming strikes on Damascus. But this threat is dangerously misguided.
The tribal fighters flooding Suwayda - now over XXXXXXX strong - do not answer to Damascus. President Ahmad al-Shar’a commands his army and police, not the tribes. Israel’s own airstrikes have made any state intervention impossible by enforcing a de facto demilitarization of the south. And now it expects that same state to control what no state in the Levant ever could.
These tribes mobilise outside of state control only in the most exceptional circumstances. The last two times were to fight al-Qaeda and ISIS. Today, they see Hikmat al-Hijri’s Druze militias - rightly or wrongly- as another incarnation of the same threat.
Bombing Damascus won’t stop them. It will enrage them. For every building hit in the capital, more homes will burn in Suwayda. There are no neat targets, just human waves. And striking them risks backlash from Israel’s own Bedouin population, who view these tribes as kin.
There is only one man whose word could halt this: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. His authority - regal, tribal, religious, and moral - is unmatched. A call from the pulpits of Mecca and Medina could compel the tribes to stand down.
But Riyadh will not intervene uninvited. The initiative must come from Israel - or through Washington. If President Trump wants to avoid a bloodbath, he should pick up the phone and ask the Crown Prince to speak.
This is no longer a military crisis. It’s a tribal reckoning. And only Saudi Arabia holds the key to stopping it.
XXXXXX engagements
