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Syria's Druze Shifting Support to the Opposition
(Washington Post) Babak Dehghanpisheh - Members of Syria's Druze community are joining the opposition in bigger numbers, according to opposition activists and rebel military commanders. The Syrian Druze number 700,000 out of a total population of 21 million, and have a history of rebelling under authoritarian leaders. Most live in mountainous southwestern Syria. In mid-January, dozens of Druze fighters joined a rebel assault on a radar base on a mountaintop in Sweida province. The fighters killed several government soldiers but were ultimately routed by troops that outgunned them; the fighters retreated, suffering many casualties. Among those killed was Khaldoun Zeineddine, one of the first Druze officers to defect from the Syrian army, who was seen as a folk hero among the Druze who have joined the opposition.