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

Jabhat al-Nusra is capturing more hostages in Quinatira west of #Syria , this time Druze according to activists from the region. — Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) 2. September 2014 Israel 'cooperating with Assad' in Golan Heights   by Kate Shuttleworth, DW The recent seizure of the Quneitra border crossing by Islamist extremists fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces marked a major escalation in the impact Syria's civil war has had on Israel. Fighters from the Nusra Front, al Qaeda's branch in Syria, expelled Assad's forces from the area and abducted 43 United Nations peacekeepers in the process. That brought the Islamist extremists within yards of Israeli positions, forcing Israel to close their side of Quneitra crossing and order farmers off agricultural land on the border. (...) Israel prepares to accept Syrian refugees Until now Israel has largely refused to accept any Syrians displaced by the civil war, and neighboring countries...

Christians in the Bekaa increasingly threatened by Islamists  In Al-Monitor a report  appeared  from the mainly Greek Catholic towns of Ras Baalbek and al-Qaa on the Lebanese-Syrian border. In the Bekaa valley, where tensions between Hizballah and Syrian Islamist rebels are running high, Christians towns feel increasingly threatened by Sunni Islamists from Syria as well: “Civilians are forming patrols to protect the borders in places like al-Qaa and Ras Baalbek,” said a source in the Defense Ministry that chose to remain anonymous, as he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media. “What they are doing is in coordination with the local municipality and the governor of the Bekaa, so it’s half-legal, let’s say.” Ras Baalbek and al-Qaa are two of Lebanon’s largest Christian villages, inhabited predominately by Greek Catholics and located on the northeast border with Syria. To date, locals say Ras Baalbek has yet to experience any incidents involving ar...

In Syrien haben im Zuge der Kämpfe um das Qalamun-Gebirge Rebellen (u.a. Jabhat an-Nusra) erneut teilweise das christliche (überwiegend griechisch-katholische) Dorf Maʿlula  erobert. Bereits im September (siehe z. B.  hier und hier ) war das Dorf i m Norden des Qalamun-Gebirges  bereits kurz von Rebellen erkämpft worden. Das mediale Echo war damals über die Maßen groß gewesen, tatsächlich sind die Rebellen aber ohne schlimmere Übergriffe gegen die Bevölkerung wieder abgezogen. Der Wallfahrtsort Maʿlula (Grab der Hl. Thekla) mit seinen vielen Klöstern und Kirchen verdankt seine Bekanntheit besonders auch der Tatsache, dass hier das fast ausgestorbene Aramäisch gesprochen wird. Maʿlula stellt aufgrund seiner Prominenz einen Prüfstein für das ohnehin verheerende Image der Rebellen im Allgemeinen hinsichtlich des Umgangs mit der christlichen Minderheit dar und westliche Medien werden mit Sicherheit über etwaige Übergriffe berichten. Ein bedrohtes ...

Human Rights Watch hat gestern einen detailierten Bericht zur Offensive von Oppositionsgruppen in der Provinz Latakia vergangenen August veröffentlicht. Der Inhalt war in groben Zügen bereits bekannt aber die nackten Zahlen sind schockierend: 190 Bewohner von alawitischen Dörfern wurden laut HRW am 4. August 2013 getötet. 105 alawitische Dorfbewohner wurden als Geiseln genommen, unter ihnen viele Frauen und Kinder. Tod von Scheich Badar Ghazzal Der Bericht gibt auch eine gute Zusammenfassung über die Umstände rund um den Tod eines bekannten alawitischen Scheichs:  Im Dorf Baruda wurde ein alawitischer  maqam (Schrein) benannt nach Scheich Nabhan, als dessen Grabstätte der Schrein dient, schwer beschädigt. Der prominente Scheich Badar Ghazzal (nicht zu verwechseln mit Scheich Muwaffaq Ghazzal link ), der den Schrein beaufsichtigte, wurde zunächst als Geisel genommen. Scheich Badar Ghazzal stammt aus einer wichtigen Familie von alawitischen Klerikern und ist als Unters...