What Is Happening to the Druze in Syria?

Entire Druze neighborhoods in Sweida lie in ruins, and at least 300 people are dead after days of intense clashes with Syrian government forces — an eruption that has now drawn Israeli airstrikes and raised fears of a wider regional war.

The violence, which broke out on July 13 following an incursion by militants reportedly aligned with Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, has left both Druze and Arab Bedouin communities reeling. Witnesses and observers allege that Syrian troops looted homes and killed civilians in what many fear is a coordinated effort to crush Druze resistance in the south.

But the roots of this crisis run much deeper — into longstanding tensions between the Druze and local Arab Bedouin tribes in southern Syria.