MENA Minorities

Last week I was cited by a couple of media about the current situation between Israel and the Syrian Druze (in English, French & German): Syrian Druze plight tests Israel’s policy of avoiding involvement in civil war Sean Savage, Jewish News Service “The Druze in Idlib and in the Golan/Hermon-region are in a very precarious situation and such a possibility [of massacres] exists, especially in Idlib. Here the Druze are totally at the mercy of Nusra, even though they have already twice declared their conversion to Islam,” Tobias Lang, an Austria-based political analyst and author of the book “Die Drusen in Libanon und Israel” (“The Druze in Lebanon and Israel”), told  JNS.org . (...)   “With the recent dynamic [of the] the massacre in Idlib, the growing Islamic State activity in eastern Sweida, the pushing of other rebels towards Sweida from the west, and the siege of the Druze town of Hader [in the Golan Heights], the Israeli Druze started to get involved on a...

The news are allover: The Druze in Syria are said to face an existential crisis. This is of course not fully true but it is undeniable that during the last weeks some extremely worrying developments have occurred: 1. ISIS has increased its activity in the East of Suwaida’. They attacked the village of Huquf on May 15, killing six inhabitants including 18 years old Mariana as-Sman. True or not, on Druze social media massive allegations circulated blaming the regime for allowing ISIS into the province. Later ISIS entered the Lajah area between Suwaida’ and Dar‘a and started to fight against rebel forces. 2. This brings us to the next hot spot, the West of Suwaida’ which is currently penetrated by different rebel groups including Jabhat an-Nusra. Especially around the Thula-airbase a fierce battle is fought. Here Druze militiamen are also involved, who had refused to fight in Dar‘a during rebel-offensive earlier this year. 3. The massacre of 23 Druze villagers by Jabhat an-Nusra...

Idlib Druze agree to forced conversion, destroyed shrines under Nusra rule - Syria Direct by Syria Direct

Jumblatt, Nusra reach agreement on Idlib’s Druze: report - See more at: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Life/Travel-and-Tourism/2015/Mar-02/289264-jumblatt-nusra-reach-agreement-on-idlibs-druze.ashx#sthash.WrxUB9u1.pCKQCf1n.dpuf Jumblatt, Nusra reach agreement on Idlib’s Druze: report - See more at: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Life/Travel-and-Tourism/2015/Mar-02/289264-jumblatt-nusra-reach-agreement-on-idlibs-druze.ashx#sthash.WrxUB9u1.pCKQCf1n.dpuf Jumblatt,Nusra reach agreement on Idlib’s Druze: report by The Daily Star Jumblatt, Nusra reach agreement on Idlib’s Druze: report - See more at: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Life/Travel-and-Tourism/2015/Mar-02/289264-jumblatt-nusra-reach-agreement-on-idlibs-druze.ashx#sthash.WrxUB9u1.pCKQCf1n.dpuf BEIRUT: An agreement has reportedly been reached between Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt and the Nusra Front regarding Druze living in Syria’s Idlib. According to local daily Al-Akhbar, the agreement calls for Idl...

In Idlib, Jabhat al-Nusra blew up a tomb of a Druze sheikh & imposed the Islamic law on Druze in Idlib pic.twitter.com/yvVcyIUzyl — Diab (@aboudiable) 24. Januar 2015 For some details see: Jabhat al-Nusra and the Druze of Idlib Province  by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, Syria Comment

An article from  The Syrian Observer about the Idlib Druze   was sent to  me by different sides l ast week . Information on this tiny community is rare these days - in fact I have not read a piece about them since the piece I published on MENA Minorities with Rami About Diab a year ago. Since  then I have refrained from writing an update - the information is too vague. So I was looking forward to read about it in the Observer, even though the title made me raise an eyebrow. The Druze of Idleb: An Example of Positive Coexistence by Yahya Alous, The Syrian Observer Idleb's Druze decided to stay and adapt to the newly emerging situation and go on with their day-to-day life like before Life in the Druze villages in Idleb goes on nearly as normal. This reality has put an end to fears about the impossibility of coexistence under the new conditions arising in the area since the regime lost control of it. The Druze are traveling between opp...

by Rami Abou Diab and Tobias Lang Islamist pressure on Druze villages in Idlib Three weeks ago a previous posting on this Blog about the situation of the Druze in northern Syria (Jabal al-A‘la or Jabal as-Summaq) stated, that " If it is true, that Kaftin or other Druze villages are under the control of ISIS, the inhabitants are faceing extremely hard times". While  end of October  an attack by  al-Qaida affiliated  ISIS on the village of Kaftin had been prevented by villagers of surrounding Sunni settlements and/or FSA elements, around December 22 the Islamist pressure on the 18 Druze villages in the area  intensified (for a detailed map see here ). Reports started to circulate, according to which the inhabitants of the Druze villages had declared their conversion to Islam.  A four page long declaration by sheikhs of the villages was posted on social media by activists connected to ISIS and Jabhat an-Nusra , which may indicate it wa...

Background [i] The Druze community in Idlib province lives in or near the Jabal al-A ʿ la - or Jabal as-Summaq in the north of the province, close to the Turkish border in a rural and relatively isolated environment. These communities are the most northern Druze settlements and also the weakest and politically less important. Druze villages in northern Syria auf einer größeren Karte anzeigen The 17 [ii]  villages are mostly relatively small and situated in a predominately Sunni environment. This unfavourable setting let to mass migration to the Druze centers in  Suwaidaʾ , Mount Lebanon and nowadays Israel, where Halabi (meaning from Aleppo district, to which the area belonged then - Halab in Arabic) is a common family name nowadays. Without a real power base, vulnerable and far away from the Druze centers in Mount Lebanon and later southern Syria, the remaining Druze of Idlib province had to find a way to get along with their...