The Qalb Loze massacre was a reported massacre of

Syrian Druze Druze in Syria is a significant minority religion. According to The World Factbook, Druze make up about 3.2 percent of the population of Syria (as of 2010), or approximately 700,000 persons, including residents of the Golan Heights.http://gulf2 ...

on 10 June 2015 in the village of

Qalb Loze Qalb Loze ( ar, قلب لوزة, also spelled Qalb Lawzah or Qalb Lozeh) is a Druze village in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Idlib Governorate located about west of Aleppo. It is situated near the border with Turkey, in the Hari ...

in Syria's northwestern Idlib Governorate. The village was under the control of a coalition of Islamist rebels, when a

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

n commander of one group in the coalition, the

al-Nusra Front Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra ( ar, جبهة النصرة لأهل الشام, Jabhat an-Nuṣrah li-Ahl ish-Sham lit. ''Front of the Supporters of the People of Syria/the Levant''), known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham ( ar, جبهة فتح ال ...

, tried to confiscate the house of one of the villagers who they accused of working for the Syrian government. The villagers protested and there were two different accounts of what followed. According to anti-government activists, the Nusra fighters opened fire on the protesting villagers, after the Tunisian commander accused them of blasphemy. In contrast, Nusra member Mohammad Feezo claimed it was the villagers who opened fire first. In the end, the al-Nusra Front killed 20 people, including the elderly and a child. The Druze were reported to have killed three members of al-Nusra Front, including the Tunisian. Two days later, a report put the number of

Druze The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...

killed at 24. The massacre sparked widespread condemnation in neighbouring Lebanon, which has a considerable

minority.

Walid Jumblatt Walid Kamal Jumblatt ( ar, وليد جنبلاط; born 7 August 1949) is a Lebanese Druze politician and former militia commander who has been leading the Progressive Socialist Party since 1977. While leading the Lebanese National Resistance ...

responded that "Any inciting rhetoric will not be beneficial, and you should remember that Bashar Assad’s policies pushed Syria into this chaos". In contrast, the Lebanese Druze party chief and former government minister

Wiam Wahhab Wiam Maher Najib Wahhab ( ar, وئام وهاب; born on 11 October 1964) is a Lebanese Druze politician and journalist from Jahlieh, Chouf District, and the founder of the Arab Unification Party. Biography He ran for parliamentary elections in ...

urged the Druze to form an armed force to defend their community in an angry televised speech saying “We will not accept to sell Druze blood!“. His call was much in line with that of the Syrian Druze spiritual leader who directed the Druze to join the

Syrian Army " (''Guardians of the Homeland'') , colors = * Service uniform: Khaki, Olive * Combat uniform: Green, Black, Khaki , anniversaries = August 1st , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = 1948 Arab–Israeli War Six-D ...

. Subsequently, Druze fighters from Sweida assisted the Syrian Army in recapturing an airbase from the Nusra Front. Prior to the Qalb Loze killings, Nusra had forced hundreds of Druze to convert to

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disag ...

, as well as desecrating their graves and destroying shrines. On June 22, a group of Druze lynched a wounded Syrian in the Golan Heights who was being transported to Israel for treatment, as they claimed he was a rebel fighter.

References

{{coord missing, Syria Massacres of the Syrian civil war in 2015 Massacres of the Syrian civil war perpetrated by the al-Nusra Front History of the Druze Mass murder in 2015 Persecution of Druze by Muslims

See also

References