Members of the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front Sunni militant group have killed 20 Druze villagers in northwestern Syria, a group monitoring the war reported on Thursday.
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The Druze faith is an offshoot of Islam considered heretical by jihadists.
Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said villagers had protested after a Tunisian Al-Nusra leader “tried to seize a house belonging to a Druze resident of Qalb Loze, claiming he was loyal to the regime”. It said the militants shot one villager dead, prompting another to grab one of the Nusra Front men’s rifles and kill a member of the al-Qaida affiliate.
A spokesman claimed that Southern Front fighters had taken control of the air base, located in the southern Sweida province.
Local ARA News quoted local activists as saying that al Nusra had executed “dozens” at the village entrance and gave the death toll as 30.
Syrian news agency Sana said that 30 died in the “horrible massacre”, including five members of the same family, adding that the Nusra Front burned down several homes.
“Such attempts would further drag the Syrian strife to Lebanon and incite the Druze to attack Syrian refugees as a vengeance”, they warned.
The Druze community have historically been very secretive about their practices and customs and have generally attempted to stay neutral during times of conflict. The militants also have forced hundreds of members of the sect to covert to Sunni Islam. “The Druze of Israel have been raising it with Israel, with the United States, with Jordan – everyone”, the official said.
The insurgents there include both the Nusra Front and other rebels who don’t share its jihadist ideology and say they are committed to a diverse Syria.
The PSP said in a statement late Wednesday that contacts Jumblatt has made with Syrian opposition groups and regional powers have led to joint efforts to protect residents of the Druze villages in Idlib, who it said have supported the Syrian revolution from the start.
In recent months, Islamic State has also been trying to advance into Sweida from the east.
Syrian TV said one of its crews in Sweida came under rebel fire that killed the crew’s driver and wounded reporter Anas al-Salman and cameraman Dergham Dbeisi.
Many Druze in Syria live in the southern province of Suweida, which is presently in the crosshairs of advancing Islamist fighters. This may still happen – even if Jerusalem and Amman were to decide to supply the Syrian Druzes with weapons. He called on Assad to arm them.
The Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, once accepted as such by the entire community, urges Jabal Druze inhabitants to throw in their lot with the rebel groups fighting to topple Assad.
Bashar al-Zoubi, a southern rebel leader, said the rebel campaign was not sectarian.
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. “Sweida was in the range of the opposition for two years and we didn’t hit it once”, he told Reuters via the internet.
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