MENA Minorities

A version of this article first appeared on the Carnegie Endowment 's blog  Syria in Crisis  edited by Aron Lund   by Tobias Lang    Protests led by Druze religious sheikhs erupted in the city of Sweida in southern Syria around April 9. The province of Sweida has an overwhelming majority of Druze, a small religious minority that makes up around 3 percent of Syria’s population. Few Druze have so far participated in the protests against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and the Sweida region has accordingly been spared the worst of the civil war, even though fighting seems to have increased recently . At the beginning of the uprising, the Druze of Sweida generally adopted a more neutral stance. But with the growing prominence of Islamist forces within the opposition, attacks on Druze civilians by rebels, and sectarian manipulation by the regime, the Druze community has been increasingly pushed over to the regime’s side. The Druze Leaders...