MIDEAST-CRISIS/SYRIA-SMOKE Smoke billows from Druze village in Syria

Record ID: 151421

  • Title: MIDEAST-CRISIS/SYRIA-SMOKE Smoke billows from Druze village in Syria
  • Date: 16th June 2015
  • Summary: SYRIA AS SEEN FROM ISRAELI-OCCUPIED GOLAN HEIGHTS (JUNE 16, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SMOKE BILLOWING FROM AREA OF DRUZE KHADR VILLAGE GOLAN HEIGHTS (JUNE 16, 2015) (REUTERS) DRUZE MEN FROM THE ISRAELI-OCCUPIED GOLAN HEIGHTS STANDING ON HILLTOP WITH DRUZE FLAGS, OVERLOOKING FIGHTING/ PAN TO SYRIA DRUZE MEN WITH FLAGS SYRIA AS SEEN FROM ISRAELI-OCCUPIED GOLAN HEIGHTS (JUNE
  • Embargoed: 1st July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAW1WHAA1V5TWW600RNTD9U6LJ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Druze residents gathered on a hilltop on the Israeli captured Golan heights plateau on Tuesday (June 16) as explosions echoed and smoke billowed over the Druze village of Khadr in Syria.
    A handful of residents of Druze villages that dot the Golan Heights waved Druze flags from a hilltop as smoke rose over Khadr village, adjacent to the Israeli border.
    The Druze have a large presence in Sweida province near the border with Jordan and Israel, where insurgents have made big gains recently.
    The insurgents there include both the Nusra Front and other rebels who do not share its jihadist ideology and say they are committed to a diverse Syria. Some of the groups are supported by Western countries and their Arab allies, who are bombing Islamic State fighters while also opposing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
    "As you can see the village in front of us, called Khadr, is a peaceful Druze village. The people who live there live in peace. The terrorists came and they are shelling them as you can see. It is a peaceful village that does not harm anyone. Why do people from Tunisia, Libya and Chechnya claim they want to free them? Which freedom are they talking about?" asked Kamal Ibrahim from the village of Majdal Shams.
    Druze in Lebanon and Israel have made separate appeals for their Syrian kin to be armed to defend themselves from groups such as Nusra and the more powerful Islamic State, which has persecuted both minorities and fellow Sunnis.
    The Druze faith, related to Islam, Christianity and Judaism, is practiced by around 1.5 million people, mostly in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. It is viewed as heretical by the puritanical school of Sunni Islam espoused by al Qaeda and by Islamic State, whose attempts to advance toward a Druze area of southern Syria have added to concerns.
    The president of Israel, home to a large Druze community, has expressed concern to the United States about the fate of the Syrian Druze, saying around 500,000 of them were under threat from Islamist militants in southern Syria.
    A U.S. official said the Druze of Israel had raised the idea of arming the Syrian Druze with Israel, the United States and with Jordan.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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