Description
With the heightened sectarianism and violence stoked by the Syrian regime since 2011, the Druze in Syria have increasingly shown resilience to the Assad regime’s systemic political repression and violence, with forms of social resistance. They have found themselves victims of the Syrian regime and allies (Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah), as well as rebels, aiming to dismantle their relative autonomy. This research seeks to explore how minority groups are affected by conflict by presenting an analysis of recent community resilience during the escalations in As-Suwayda (the mainly Druze city in Syria), as part of a collective response and uprising against the Syrian regime between 2018 - 2021 in south-west Syria. The research aims to highlight that unlike other minority groups in Syria, the Druze have largely avoided being uprooted from their communities, turning inwards for both protection, social, and economic stability. Based on fieldwork and humanitarian missions to As-Suwayda between 2018-2019, it will discuss the security and economic challenges these groups face, their leadership, community solidarity, and mobilisation strategies. It argues that to fully understand why and how the Syrian regime tries to exploit and weaponize vulnerable minorities, we must move beyond generalizations of minority-state relations and explore the context for each group.
