Syria’s Druze minority fears the future after Assad's fall

War in Syria has exposed the country’s deep divisions—factional, geopolitical, religious, and ethnic—leaving minorities especially vulnerable. Syria is a mix of Sunni Arabs, Alawites, Christians, Kurds, Druze, and other smaller communities, each with its own identity and history of grievances. The war has turned these differences into sharp divides, with factions backed by competing foreign powers fighting for control. For minorities like the Druze, this fragmentation has become a serious threat to their survival.

The Druze are an Arabic-speaking religious minority of about a million people, primarily residing in Lebanon, Israel, and Syria. Their monotheistic faith originated over 1,000 years ago in Egypt as an offshoot of Islam, specifically Ismaʿīlī Shiʿism. While some Druze today may identify as Muslim, the broader world, including many Islamic scholars, generally considers the Druze a distinct religion.

Known as the "Muwahideen," or "declarers of oneness," the Druze faith emphasizes spiritual purity, a strong connection with God, and philosophical exploration. Their religion blends elements of Isma'ilism, Christianity, Gnosticism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and other philosophies.

The Druze faith incorporates aspects of Islam's "Seven Pillars," which form its core beliefs, while also recognizing a wide range of prophets, including Jesus, John the Baptist, Mohammed, Khidr, and Moses. However, the most revered biblical prophet in the Druze tradition is Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law. Jethro is honored during the annual festival of Ziyarat al-Nabi Shu’ayb, celebrated from April 15–18. This festival, a public holiday in Israel, includes a pilgrimage to Jethro’s burial site near Tiberias.

The Druze reject formal ceremonies and rituals, have no official liturgy or prayer book, and observe few feast or fast days. Apart from a few holy sites, they rarely build houses of worship, instead gathering on Thursdays for communal discussions about their faith.

Marriage within the Druze community is strictly endogamous, and the faith does not accept converts. This prohibition on conversion is rooted in their belief in reincarnation, which holds that all people alive today were also alive during the first century of the Druze religion, when they would have had the opportunity to join but chose not to.

 

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In Syria, the Druze make up approximately 3–4 percent of the population, around 700,000 people. They are primarily concentrated in Jabal Druze (also known as Jabal al-Arab or Jabal Hawran) near the southwestern border with Jordan. Other Druze communities are located in the Golan (Jawlan); there are 17 villages in Jabal al-A’la (about halfway between Aleppo and Antioch in the northwest, and four villages south of Damascus.

The Druze are often viewed as heretical by Sunni and Shia Muslims and have faced centuries of persecution and exclusion. In the 1960s, following a failed coup attempt led by a Druze officer, they were purged from positions of power in the army, the Ba'ath Party, and security services. Their relationship with the Assad regime is complex—while much of the Druze leadership supported Assad, largely out of fear of Islamic extremist persecution, many Druze individuals opposed the regime and avoided military service. Their refusal to join Islamist anti-regime forces, coupled with their resistance to revolution, made them targets for groups like ISIS, which carried out brutal attacks against Druze communities.

In July 2018, the Druze-majority city of Sweida suffered one of its deadliest attacks, with over 200 people killed in a series of coordinated assaults by Islamic State militants. These attacks included suicide bombings in the city and raids on nearby villages, targeting civilians and leaving widespread devastation in their wake.

The incident added to growing tensions between the Druze community and the Syrian regime. Residents accused government authorities of negligence, questioning how militants were able to infiltrate areas previously declared insurgent-free and criticizing the lack of military intervention. Local Druze vigilantes were forced to defend their villages with minimal support from the army, further exacerbating frustrations with the regime.

The attacks also deepened divisions with local Bedouin groups, as accusations of collaboration with the militants combined with longstanding territorial disputes to strain relations further.

Currently, the dominant powers in Syria include the Syrian National Army (SNA), which has incorporated former members of extremist groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda, and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al-Qaeda affiliate now rebranding as a more moderate opposition force. However, HTS’s history of war crimes, including attacks on Christians, Shias, Druze, and Alawites, casts doubt on its promises to protect minorities. The SNA, meanwhile, has not made any such pledge. 

Tens of thousands of Syrians, particularly minorities, have fled to Lebanon to escape persecution by these extremist factions. Lebanese security sources estimate that while official border crossings recorded around 7,000 entries, the total number of displaced Syrians, including those using illegal crossings, is closer to 90,000. Many have sought refuge in Lebanon’s Bekaa region or the city of Hermel, while others remain stranded along the border. Distrust of HTS’s pledges, coupled with the SNA’s complete disregard of commitments to protect minorities, has significantly heightened fears among displaced groups, including the Druze.

“The Druze in the south of the country have been in a state of civil disobedience for months, resisting the regime and clearing their area of any Syrian regime presence even before its fall in Damascus,” a reporter from the Free Burma Rangers (FBR) on the ground in Syria told me. “Like the Kurds, Christians, and other minorities, they are also waiting to see how the situation unfolds and what form the political transition will take.”

The Druze village of Hader, near the Israeli border, made an unprecedented plea for annexation by Israel. A village leader described Israel as the "lesser evil" compared to the threat posed by jihadist groups in Syria. Speaking in an unverified video, the leader expressed fears of violence, exploitation, and oppression under Islamist rebel rule, stating that annexation by Israel would provide the community with security, freedom, and dignity akin to that enjoyed by Druze communities in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

In response, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) moved into the buffer zone near Hader to maintain security, with officers meeting local Druze leaders to reassure them about their safety and continuity of daily life. The IDF Chief of Staff emphasized that Israel’s actions aim to protect its citizens in the Golan Heights rather than interfere in Syria’s internal affairs. Meanwhile, IDF officers have requested local residents to collect weapons abandoned by Syrian military forces to prevent them from falling into the hands of jihadist groups.

Abu Mohammad al-Jolani (Ahmad al-Sharaa), leader of HTS, has publicly stated that HTS does not intend to engage in conflict with Israel, instead focusing on establishing governance within Syria. Despite these assurances, the geopolitical instability and dual threats of rebel violence and extremist rule have left the Druze in a precarious position.

Approximately 20,000 Druze live in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, including in the village of Hader and surrounding areas near the Israel-Syria border. The Druze community in the Golan Heights, particularly in Majdal Shams, has been divided by the Israel-Syria border since 1967, a separation that has deeply influenced their identity and loyalties. Historically, the Druze have avoided conscription and refrained from aligning with major factions. However, the fall of Assad's dictatorship has sparked mixed reactions—some viewing it as a new beginning, others fearing persecution under an Islamist-led rebel government.

Amid these uncertainties, some Druze see annexation by Israel as a path to security, while others remain hesitant, unwilling to abandon their Syrian roots or fully align with Israel.

The Druze community’s relationship with Israel adds to their uncertainty. While they live as permanent residents with access to social services, many Golan Druze still identify culturally with Syria, creating ambivalence about accepting Israeli citizenship. The collapse of the Assad regime has also revived hopes of reconnecting with family across the border, but these aspirations are tempered by fears of escalating geopolitical tensions.

For Druze and other minorities beyond the Golan Heights, decisions about whether to flee or remain in Syria are further complicated by doubts over HTS’s promises of protection and concerns about whether the Syrian National Army (SNA) can be kept at bay. Meanwhile, the resurgence of ISIS amid Syria’s ongoing internal conflict and strained efforts by US-backed Kurdish forces to combat the group poses a grave threat. A renewed ISIS presence would be disastrous for the Druze, who have already suffered severe persecution at their hands in the past. 


Should Israel annex Druze villages in Syria?


Antonio Graceffo, PhD, China-MBA MBA, is a China economic analyst teaching economics at the American University in Mongolia. He has spent 20 years in Asia and is the author of six books about China. His writing has appeared in The Diplomat, South China Morning Post, Jamestown Foundation China Brief, Penthouse, Shanghai Institute of American Studies, Epoch Times, War on the Rocks, Just the News, and Black Belt Magazine.

Image credit:  Druze celebrating the fall of Assad / screenshot from TRT News 


 

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