Exclusive: Who are Syria's Druze and why are they under attack?

Euronews

2 days ago

After violent clashes between Druze and Bedouin militias erupted in Syria's southern Suwayda region last week – killing over 1,000 people and displacing almost 130,000 others – the religious group has been cast into the global spotlight.
Despite the violence, one of the three Druze religious leaders, Hekmat Al-Hijri, said in an interview with Euronews that the group was formed by 'peaceful people who have never attacked anyone in the past' on three foundational tenets.
'The use of reason, non-aggression, and truthfulness" is what Druze anchor themselves with, Al-Hijri explained.
Yet, throughout their 1,000-year history, the Druze have been no strangers to conflict.
Religion of unity
Explaining the history of one of the Middle East's most complex religious groups is no easy feat, even for the insiders. As one Druze religious leader told Euronews, 'we'd have to go back to the time of the Prophets Shuayb and Moses.'
Founded in Egypt in the early 11th century as an offshoot of Ismaili Islam — itself an offshoot of Shi'a Islam — Druze doctrine was reportedly first preached in Cairo in 1017, ending in riots in the Egyptian capital.
Much of the foundational ideology was based around the personality of Fatimid leader Al-Hakim, dubbed pejoratively 'The Mad Caliph' by some while revered by others as a divinely chosen supreme leader.
A controversial figure accused of persecuting Sunni Muslims, as well as Christians and Jews, Al-Hakim disappeared mysteriously in 1021.
What followed for the newly founded Druze minority was marked by discrimination and persecution.
They were largely driven out of Egypt by Al-Hakim's successors and settled in the mountainous regions of the Sham, which encompasses modern-day Syria, Lebanon and contested parts of Israel.
Much of Druze dogma remains shrouded in secrecy, but a Druze resident of Suwayda who comes from a family of sheikhs but wanted to remain anonymous for reasons of safety told Euronews that the group 'follows the religion of Tawhid (unity), which is an intellectual and spiritual faith based on the idea that a person's relationship with God is a spiritual and intellectual one, not dependent on imposed religious rituals.'
In short, 'it is a voluntary, not compulsory, faith' that is not part of any other religion, including Islam. In the Druze worldview, this means the group is "capable of harmonising with various sects, religions and ethnicities.'
Since 1043, the Druze religion has been closed to new converts. Today's Druze population numbers just 1 million globally, over two-thirds of whom live in Syria.
Struggling for freedom
Throughout their millennium-long history, the Druze have frequently formed alliances with various broader powers. During the Crusades, Druze soldiers aided the Ayyubid and later Mamluk forces by resisting Crusader advances at the Lebanese coast.
They also maintained a relatively high level of autonomy during centuries of Ottoman rule, even challenging their authority in the 1600s after forming a coalition with Maronite Christians.
More recently, when the region was carved up by European powers into the modern nation states whose often porous borders remain indelibly inked onto maps today, Sheikh Al-Hijri notes that the Druze "were among those who helped found the state of Lebanon.'
In Syria's neighbour, they remain a powerful political force headed by a dynasty of the Jumblatt family, generations of whom have run the Druze-majority Progressive Socialist Party.
In Syria, it has been a different story, one stained by 'extreme marginalisation and repugnant sectarian treatment,' contends the sheikh.
Not only was the community split when Israel annexed the Druze-majority Golan Heights in the 1967 Six-Day War, but four years later, the al-Assad-led Ba'ath party came to power in what Druze leaders and activists told Euronews was the start of five decades of discrimination.
'The al-Assad regime marginalised the Druze to such an extent that it was forbidden to dig a water well or build a factory, and they were barred from attaining senior military ranks,' Al-Hijri maintains.
This said, not everyone paints the relationship between the Druze and Hafez Al-Assad and his recently deposed son, Bashar, as so difficult. Some see the old regime as quashing religious tensions in a country where some 20% of the 24-million population comes from religious minorities.
There were even accusations of the al-Assads — who themselves derive from another Shi'a offshoot group, the Alawites — giving preferential treatment to non-Sunni groups.
As a prominent member of the Druze community in Suwayda put it to Euronews: 'Druze personalities benefited from the last regime; they made deals with it, they supported the ideas and the actions of the regime.'
However, Druze artist and activist Tamara Abu Alwan is adamant that many, if not most, members of the minority were fervently against al-Assad.
'Personally, I've been involved in the revolution for 14 years. My father also lost his job because he was an opponent of the regime. We were all in opposition. We were a family that supported each other and extended help to areas outside government control — even though it put our lives at risk.'
When forces under the command of Ahmed Al-Sharaa, a former Islamist militia leader whose nom-de-guerre Al-Jolani derived from the Arabic name for the Golan Heights, Abu Alwan told Euronews, 'I was so happy. I believed that the 14 years with all the martyrs who shed blood were over.'
'But then it turned out to be only the beginning of something even worse.'
The plot thickens
The new authorities in Damascus have largely been met with a cautious sigh of relief by the international community.
Al-Sharaa has met with leaders from Western powers, including the UK, the EU and the US. Donald Trump even called the new president 'handsome'.
What followed was the lifting of many crippling sanctions that were imposed on the Assad regime for crimes against the Syrian people. Today, 90% of the population still lives below the poverty line, and the economy hangs by a thread.
Although many have lauded al-Sharaa for providing stability to a country ravaged by over a decade of war, Syria has endured multiple eruptions of interethnic violence, notably in early March when Alawite communities were massacred in coastal regions.
While al-Sharaa at the time called for calm and promised an independent investigation into claims that government-affiliated forces initiated what one commentator called the 'orgy of violence,' many believe the president was complicit.
'They asked (the Alawites) to hand over weapons,' the Suwayda resident said during their interview. 'When the weapons were handed over, and the Syrian coastal area became isolated ... they attacked and committed terrible massacres against humanity."
"The entire villages were killed and exterminated. Houses and houses were burned.'
Sheikh Hikmat agreed, adding, 'They use a local group to stir up strife, and then they carry out mass killings against their opponents.'
The spiritual leader contends that he foresaw the recent violence months in advance. 'They spent seven months conducting a systematic media campaign,' Sheikh Hikmat recalled, which he said fomented ethnic tensions.
'There were even weeks when Suwayda occupied more than 25% of the Arab world's news reports, at a time when there were no overt disputes or clashes, clearly pointing to a premeditated plan against the Druze.'
Trust in al-Sharaa eroded?
In late April, tensions spilt over into violence, leading to almost 100 deaths amongst Druze fighters.
More than 30 government fighters were also killed, and the Israeli Defence Forces launched airstrikes, including near the presidential palace. This turned out to be a prelude of what was to come.
On 13 July, fighting again broke out in southern Syria, with both Bedouin and Druze militias accusing the other of committing war crimes, including wholesale massacres.
The international community quickly condemned the violence, with the EU saying it was 'appalled,' without apportioning blame on one side or the other.
However, Syria's newfound and tentative Western supporters 'welcomed' a ceasefire announced by al-Sharaa last Thursday, in which the Syrian leader said it was his 'priority' to protect the Druze.
For Tamara Abu Alwan, his words ring hollow. 'He has lost respect for the Syrian people,' she told Euronews.
'I lost loved ones and friends for the sake of nothing, for the sake of those criminals taking over a regime that they don't deserve. So, I really do not think Ahmed Sharaa will last too long.'
In his address to the nation, al-Sharaa also condemned Syria's neighbours in Israel for launching airstrikes and trying to 'entangle our people in a war that serves only to fragment our homeland and sow destruction.'
There was little international support for Israel's latest attacks in the heart of Damascus. Yet, stating that '99%' of the Druze population were behind him, Al-Hijri leapt to Israel's defence.
"Israel tried to establish relations with the Damascus regime and was one of the countries that gave it a chance. But when the regime attacked the Druze and ignored multiple warnings, they struck Damascus," Al-Hijri said.
"We welcome this action, which could help stop the savage and barbaric campaigns against us.'
Privately, some Druze whom Euronews spoke to were more reticent about Israel's actions.
'I heard about these attacks in the area of Damascus,' one person said. 'At the same time, we were just trying to escape from the massacres. We were trying to get out of this country.'