Spread across Syria, Lebanon and Israel, the secretive religious minority has long balanced integration and independence. Now, members are at the heart of the region’s shifting power struggles.
In the southern city of Sweida, residents describe the aftermath of a wave of sectarian violence.
President Ahmed al-Shara said the airstrike on Damascus threatened to escalate sectarian violence, in his sharpest criticism of Israel since he came to power.
Israel threatened to escalate attacks on Syrian government forces unless they withdrew from Sweida, a southern province dominated by the Druse minority.
Israel threatened to escalate attacks on Syrian government forces unless they withdrew from Sweida, a southern province dominated by the country’s Druse minority.
Syria announced a cease-fire after deadly sectarian clashes in Sweida, near the Israeli border, and Israeli airstrikes on Damascus, the capital.
Druse militiamen have been fighting with Bedouins in the Sweida Province, and Syrian government forces and the Israeli military are getting involved.
In Syria, Israel launched rare attacks on forces of the new government, while in Lebanon it took aim at the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
Israel intervened in sectarian violence in Syria and attacked the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
The violence underscores the government’s challenge to assert nationwide control as ethnic and religious tensions simmer after the end of the civil war.