Syria After Assad: Druse Militia Refuse to Join Syria’s New Army

“Syrian blood must not be shed by Syrian hands.“ , says Sheikh Marwan al-Rizq., The Druze Military Council quickly ramped up its fighters since the fall of Assad. The Druze Militia trains local men —often educated, white-collar workers such as lawyers but also construction workers— who have bolstered their ranks. But as the general security now exerts authority across the region, the Druze community is facing deadly violence.

The militias that control the Druse religious minority’s volcanic heartland in southwestern Syria have resisted the new government’s attempts to bring all armed groups under its control.