The Druze religious sect, enmeshed in an outbreak of tit-for-tat violence in Syria, began roughly 1,000 years ago as an offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam.
Most Druze religious practices are shrouded in secrecy, with outsiders not allowed to convert and intermarriage strongly discouraged.
More than half the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981.
Here’s a look at the Druze sect:
The principles Druze live by
A core social doctrine for Druze is defending their brothers, meaning defending one another, said Makram Rabah, assistant professor of history at the American University of Beirut.
“If a Druze person anywhere in the world needed the help of another Druze person, he would automatically get it,” said Rabah. “You’re part of a bigger community.”
He stressed how social and cultural rituals keep the community together. “They’re a big tribe,” he said.
Intermarriage is not encouraged. Rabah said mainstream Druze would shun people who marry outside the sect. “You are under the risk of being isolated socially and community wise,” he said.
How Druze have interacted with the Syrian government
Syria’s Druze have a long history of cutting their own path to survive among the country’s powerhouses. They were heavily involved in revolts against Ottoman and French colonial rule to establish the modern Syrian state.
The Druze largely celebrated the downfall in December of Syrian autocrat Bashar Assad but were divided over interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s rule.
The latest violence has left the community more skeptical of Syria’s new leadership and doubtful of peaceful coexistence.
In Israel, members of the Druze community had called for intervention to protect the Druze in Syria. But elsewhere in the region, Druze leaders have rejected Israeli intervention.
Druze have armed militias
Multiple Druze armed militias have existed for years, originally set up to protect their communities against Islamic State group fighters and drug smugglers coming in from the eastern desert.
Assad reluctantly gave Druze a degree of autonomy, as they wanted to avoid being involved on the front lines. The Druze were exempted from conscription into the Syrian army and instead set up local armed factions made of workers and farmers to patrol their areas.
Since Assad’s ouster, the Druze have been reluctant to lay down their arms. The result is a cycle of mistrust, where government supporters paint Druze factions as potential separatists or tools of Israel, while government hostility only deepens Druze worries.
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