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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Al-Nusra kills 20 Druze |
| 2015-06-12 |
| [ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] At least 20 members of Syria's Druze minority have been killed in an unprecedented shoot-out with Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front in northwestern Syria, a monitor said on Thursday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the deaths came Wednesday in the village of Qalb Lawzah in Idlib province, most of which is now controlled by an alliance including Al-Nusra. Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said villagers had protested after a Tunisian Al-Nusra leader "tried to seize a house belonging to a Druze resident of Qalb Lawzah, claiming he was loyal to the regime." "Relatives of the owner of the house protested and tried to stop him, then there was an altercation and shooting," he added. "The Tunisian leader brought his men and accused the Druze residents of the village of blasphemy and opened fire on them killing at least 20 people, among them elderly people and at least one child." Abdel Rahman said some of the villagers had weapons and returned fire, killing three members of Al-Nusra. The Druze deaths were reported by Syria's official SANA news agency, which accused Al-Nusra and allied Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham ...a Syria jihadi group made up of Islamists and salafists, not that there's that much difference, formed into a brigade. They make up the main element of the Islamic Front but they don't profess adoration of al-Qaeda and they've been fighting (mainly for survival) against the Islamic State. Their leadership was wiped out at a single blow by a suicide kaboom at a crowded basement meeting in September, 2014... of an "appalling massacre committed against the poeple of Qalb Lawzah that claimed the lives of at least 30 people." Quoting local sources, SANA said the dead included five members of a single family, three holy mans and two women. The agency also said the "terrorists... looted and burned dozens of homes." The Druze, followers of a secretive offshoot of Shiite Islam, made up around three percent of Syria's pre-war population of 23 million people. |
| Posted by:Fred |