MENA Minorities

Analyzing and even just following the events concerning religious minorities in the MENA is not all fun these days-it's often depressing, but one man lately put a little badly needed humor in it: Walid Junblat. Lebanon's by far most influential Druze leader is not only the head of a socialist party, a former militia leader and a feudal lord - apart from these he has somehow the reputation of a playboy. Honestly, I am not really interested in such gossip especially since it dates back decades. However, in the light of all the domestic problems and the threat by IS, Junblat seriously took time to welcome the competitors of the Lebanese edition of reality TV series Topmodel to his castle of Mukhtara in the Shuf mountains. Since Junblat had been referred to as Hugh Hefner on Twitter, it reminded me of one of his most interesting interviews, which was published 198 4 in the Playboy Magazine . Junblat, it seems, loves to play with his playboy-image. Edit: Junblat wrote a self...

Lebanon's Druze leader Walid Junblat surprised many some weeks ago when he publicly declared his objection against a new post-doc fellowship at Georgetown University (Washington DC) in Druze and Arab Minority Studies. This comes at a surprise, not only because the fellowship is granted by the American Druze Foundation, but also because Junblat is known to have in general a positive attitude towards researchers, an attitude which is not that common among Lebanese politicians. Junblat's medial opposition to an academic fellowship for one person a year working mostly on the publication of his/her PhD thesis may sound ridiculous (it certainly is) but it reflects the wider fear of Junblat and parts of the Druze society in the face of rising militant Sunni extremism in Syria and also Lebanon. The recent bombing on February 3, which targeted the Lebanese Shia population, went off in the predominantly Druze town of Chouaifat. This act clearly indicates, that mixed areas in Lebanon ...

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...

Nach den Bombenanschlägen in Hizballah-Hochburgen im Juli (9 Tote 53 Verletzte) und August (22 Tote 325 Verletzte) befürchtet die schiitische Miliz nun Anschläge während des Aschurafestes Mitte November, berichtet das Internetportal Naharnet unter Berufung auf die libanesische Tageszeitung al-Joumhouria . Während des Aschurafestes gedenken die Schiiten der Schlacht von Kerbala und des Martyriums des Kalifen Husain. Es ist der höchste schiitische Feiertag und teilweise durch Hizballah propagandistisch vereinnahmt. Laut demselben  Bericht gibt es auch nach wie vor intensive Kontakte zwischen Hizballah und der Progressiven Sozialistischen Partei (PSP) des Drusenführers Walid Junblat: Meanwhile, Hizbullah sources revealed to the daily that contacts are ongoing between the party and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat over a number of issues. The contacts are being held between caretaker Ministers Wael Abou Faour and Ghazi al-Aridi and MP Akram Shehayeb, r...