Many Iraqi Arabs identify strongly with a tribe (العشيرة 'ashira).
Within the tribe, there is the clan (الفخذ fukhdh), the house (البيت beit) and the extended family (الخمس khams).
Tribes are led by sheikhs (شيخ sheykh) who represent the tribe and deal with its domestic affairs.
There are hundreds of Arab tribes across Iraq from the north to the south.
On its accession to power in the 17 July Revolution of 1968, Iraq's Ba'ath Party announced its opposition to tribalism ( القبلية ''al-qabaliyya''), although for pragmatic reasons, especially during the Iran–Iraq War, tribalism was sometimes tolerated and even encouraged.