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February 12, 2013       Share:    

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/syrias-druze-minority-is-shifting-its-support-to-the-opposition/2013/02/07/9e3f52c6-6d5d-11e2-ada0-5ca5fa7ebe79_story.html

Syria's Druze Shifting Support to the Opposition

(Washington Post) Babak Dehghanpisheh - Members of Syria's Druze community are joining the opposition in bigger numbers, according to opposition activists and rebel military commanders. The Syrian Druze number 700,000 out of a total population of 21 million, and have a history of rebelling under authoritarian leaders. Most live in mountainous southwestern Syria. In mid-January, dozens of Druze fighters joined a rebel assault on a radar base on a mountaintop in Sweida province. The fighters killed several government soldiers but were ultimately routed by troops that outgunned them; the fighters retreated, suffering many casualties. Among those killed was Khaldoun Zeineddine, one of the first Druze officers to defect from the Syrian army, who was seen as a folk hero among the Druze who have joined the opposition.

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