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Saturday, February 09, 2013

The Druze Choose Not to Lose

I apologize in advance for the title.

Anyway. The Druze were once part of the Assad support structure against the Sunni Arab majority. That's standard operating procedure for a minority dictatorship--get other minorities abused by the majority in the past to support a minority regime. The Druze are slipping away from the Assad bench as they sense which way the wind is blowing:

Members of Syria’s Druze community, a small but significant religious minority, are joining the opposition in bigger numbers, ramping up pressure on the beleaguered government of President Bashar al-Assad, according to opposition activists and rebel military commanders.

As the Syrian conflict has devolved into a bloody sectarian war, with many Sunni Muslims backing the opposition, some of the country’s minorities, including the Druze and Christians, have largely sat on the sidelines.

The Christians didn't do too badly under Assad. So they and the Druze have reason to worry about a Sunni victory that descends into revenge killings. But they can't afford to be on the losing side of the fight.

And already, the Kurds have hunkered down in the northeast to control their own territory. What do the Druze do? Let's consult the map:


Well, that would help the rebels gain a foothold along the Jordan border and would stretch the Syrian army south of Damascus near the Israeli border.

Assad is already losing this war. If he is pared down to just the Alawites, his doom is accelerated.