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Sheikh Wahid Al-Balous
Sheikh Wahid al-Balous (; 19654 September 2015) was a Syrian Druze leader and cleric who led the Men of Dignity armed group. Life Al-Balous served as a policeman in the 1990s, though he left the position and became a religious figure. He was an opponent of Bashar al-Assad, Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State (ISIS). He fought alongside the regime against the Al-Nusra Front in August 2014 in Dama, though he turned against it after the battle. According to the Middle East Institute, the battle took place between Bedouins and Druze " popular committees." He opposed the forced conscription of Druze into the Syrian army and allowed them to take refuge in his home. Death He was assassinated in Suwayda by a car bomb in September 2015. Many of the 25 other casualties were killed in a second blast, which took place near a hospital. The convoy of vehicles with which he was traveling was also targeted by gunmen, which resulted in the wounding of his two sons, Fahd, and Laith, as w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, the east and southeast, Jordan to Jordan–Syria border, the south, and Israel and Lebanon to Lebanon–Syria border, the southwest. It is a republic under Syrian transitional government, a transitional government and comprises Governorates of Syria, 14 governorates. Damascus is the capital and largest city. With a population of 25 million across an area of , it is the List of countries and dependencies by population, 57th-most populous and List of countries and dependencies by area, 87th-largest country. The name "Syria" historically referred to a Syria (region), wider region. The modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization. Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Popular Committees (Syria)
The Popular Committees (also called Lijan militias; ''al-Lijan al-Sha'biyah'', meaning "people's committees") were militias that emerged in Syria during the Syrian Civil War. They originated as neighborhood vigilante groups in the Christian, Druze and Alawi and Shia Muslim quarters of Damascus and elsewhere to prevent the infiltration of Sunni-dominated rebel groups. However, the Popular Committees included a significant number of pro-regime Sunni Muslims as well. The Popular Committees were armed by the Syrian government and manned checkpoints around their districts. They have been accused of carrying out extrajudicial executions and revenge killings. Reuters quoted a Druze resident of Jaramana: "he governmentsay the Lijans help us protect ourselves, but really they just wanted to light the sectarian fuse in Damascus". '' StrategyPage'' claimed that the Syrian Army offered weapons to minority communities in contested cities: "if the minorities will form self-defense militia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syrian Druze People
Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indigenous elements and the foreign cultures that have come to rule the land and its people over the course of thousands of years. By the seventh century, most of the inhabitants of the Levant spoke Aramaic. In the centuries after the Muslim conquest of the Levant in 634, Arabic gradually became the dominant language, but a minority of Syrians (particularly the Assyrians and Syriac-Arameans retained Aramaic (Syriac), which is still spoken in its Eastern and Western dialects. The national name "Syrian" was originally an Indo-European corruption of Assyrian and applied to Assyria in northern Mesopotamia, however by antiquity it was used to denote the inhabitants of the Levant. Following the Muslim conquest of the Levant, Arab iden ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2015 Deaths
This is a list of lists of deaths of notable people, organized by year. New deaths articles are added to their respective month (e.g., Deaths in ) and then linked below. 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 Earlier years ''Deaths in years earlier than this can usually be found in the main articles of the years.'' See also * Lists of deaths by day * Deaths by year (category) {{DEFAULTSORT:deaths by year ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Murhaf Abu Qasra
Major General Murhaf Abu Qasra (), also known by his ''nom de guerre'' Abu Hassan al-Hamawi and Abu Hassan 600, is a Syrian military officer and politician who is currently serving as Minister of Defense in the Syrian transitional government since 21 December 2024. His appointment comes as part of a broader effort to institutionalise and unify the military forces of the former Syrian opposition. Early life and education Abu Qasra holds a bachelor's degree in agricultural engineering. Before the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, he worked in his field of study. With the escalation of the conflict, he utilized his engineering expertise to support the armed opposition. Career Abu Qasra emerged as a prominent figure in the military efforts of the opposition forces. He served as a military capabilities engineer, organizing and leading operations in opposition-held areas. Over the years, he gained recognition for his role in coordinating and executing key military strategies. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fall Of The Assad Regime
On 8 December 2024, the Assad regime collapsed during a 2024 Syrian opposition offensives, major offensive by Syrian opposition, opposition forces. The offensive was spearheaded by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and supported mainly by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army as part of the ongoing Syrian civil war that began with the Syrian revolution in 2011. The Fall of Damascus (2024), capture of Syria's capital, Damascus, marked the end of the Assad family's rule, which had governed Syria as a hereditary Totalitarianism, totalitarian dictatorship since Hafez al-Assad assumed power in 1971 after a Corrective Movement (Syria), successful coup d'état. As Southern Operations Room, a rebel coalition advanced towards Damascus, reports emerged that Bashar al-Assad had fled the capital aboard a plane to Russia, where he joined his family, already in exile, and was granted Right of asylum, asylum. Following his departure, opposition forces declared victory on state television. Concu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syrian Transitional Government
The Syrian transitional government () is the current provisional government of Syria, formed on 29 March 2025 under President Ahmed al-Sharaa. It succeeded the Syrian caretaker government headed by Mohammed al-Bashir. The government was announced by president of Syria Ahmed al-Sharaa at a ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Damascus, where the new ministers were sworn in and delivered speeches outlining their agendas. Two new ministries were formed: the Ministry of Sports and Youth and Ministry of Emergency and Disaster Management. The position of Prime Minister was abolished. The Ministry of Energy was formed from the mergers of the Ministry of Electricity, the Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resources and the Ministry of Water Resources while the Ministry of Economy and Industry was formed from the mergers of the Ministry of Economy and Foreign Trade, Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection and the Ministry of Industry. Background The 2024 Syrian op ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sheikh Al-Karama Forces
The Sheikh al-Karama Forces is a Druze militia group based in the As-Suwayda Governorate in southern Syria, that emerged during the Syrian civil war. Composed of Druze locals, the group was led by two brothers who are the sons of the founder of another Druze militia group called the Men of Dignity. Despite the group clashing with Syrian government forces and Hezbollah on numerous occasions, it was not part of the nationwide Free Syrian Army or general Syrian opposition. Members of the Druze community and the group were targeted by the Syrian Ba'athist government, the group claims that several members of the Druze community in the Suwayda governorate were arrested and tortured under terrorism charges. History Men of Dignity The Men of Dignity emerged in 2014 with supporters of Wahid al-Balous who was a dissident of the government in the Druze community and initially called for the removal of the Syrian government. However, he and his movement were noted as neither being s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syrian Observatory For Human Rights
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (also known as SOHR; ), founded in May 2006, is a United Kingdom-based information office whose stated aim is to document human rights abuses in Syria; since 2011 it has focused on the Syrian Civil War. It has been frequently quoted by major news outlets since the beginning of the war about daily numbers of deaths from all sides in the conflict and particularly civilians killed in airstrikes in Syria. The SOHR has been described as being "pro- opposition" and anti- Assad, but has reported on war crimes committed by all sides of the conflict. History and operations The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is run by "Rami Abdulrahman" (sometimes spelled as Rami Abdul Rahman), from his home in Coventry. Abdulrahman is a Syrian Sunni who owns a clothing shop. Born Osama Suleiman, he adopted a pseudonym during his years of activism in Syria and has used it publicly ever since. After being imprisoned three times in Syria, Abdulrahman fled to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baathist Syria
Ba'athist Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR), was the Syrian state between 1963 and 2024 under the one-party rule of the Syrian regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. From 1971 until its collapse in 2024, it was ruled by the Assad family, and was therefore commonly referred to as the Assad regime. The regime emerged in 1963 as a result of a coup d'état led by Alawite Ba'athist military officers. Another coup in 1966 led to Salah Jadid becoming the country's de facto leader while Nureddin al-Atassi assumed the presidency. In 1970, Jadid and al-Atassi were overthrown by Hafez al-Assad in the Corrective Movement. The next year, Assad became president after winning sham elections. After assuming power, Assad reorganised the state along sectarian lines (Sunnis and other groups became figureheads of political institutions whilst Alawites took control of the military, intelligence, bureaucracy and security apparatuses). Ba'athist Syria also occupied muc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dama, Syria
Dama () is a village in the As-Suwayda Governorate of southwest Syria. It is located in the heart of the Lejah lava plateau, 29 km north west of the city of As-Suwayda. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Dama had a population of 1,799 in the 2004 census. Modern era Dama played a major role in the late stages of the Great Syrian Revolution (1925–1927). It hosted the important Dama Convention which resulted in the refusal of French proposals and the collapse of negotiations between the Druze rebels and the French. It was also the site of some of the last battles in the revolution fought by guerrilla groups led by Emir Adel Arslan. See also * Druze in Syria Druze is the third-largest religion in Syria with 2010 results recording that their adherents made up 3.2 percent of the population. The Druze are concentrated in the rural, mountainous areas east and south of Damascus in the area of Mount Druz ... References Bibliography * * External link ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suwayda
Suwayda (), also spelled Sweida, is a mainly Druze city located in southern Syria, close to the border with Jordan. It is the capital of Suwayda Governorate, one of Syria's 14 governorates, bordering Jordan in the South, Daraa Governorate in the West and Rif Dimashq Governorate in the north and east. The city is referred to by some as "Little Venezuela" due to the city's influx of affluent Venezuelan Syrian immigrants. Many of them originally emigrated from Suweida in the nineteenth century, so when their descendants returned, they brought back the Spanish language and South American culture. History Ancient and Medieval eras The city was founded by the Nabataeans as Suada. It became known as Dionysias Soada () in the Hellenistic period and the Roman Empire, for the god Dionysus, patron of wine - the city is situated in a famous ancient wine-producing region. The name ''Dionysias'' replaced the former Nabataean name in 149 AD after Nabataean influence decreased and then ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
