What has happened?
Last Sunday, bloody clashes occurred in Sweida in southern Syria when armed Bedouins kidnapped a Druze vegetable seller.
To curb the escalating conflict, the Syrian regime deployed its military in the province on Tuesday. A ceasefire was declared but to no effect. Government forces have taken control of several Druze villages and residents are testifying to murder, looting and burned-down houses, reports AFP.
At the same time, the neighboring country Israel, which portrays itself as the protector of the Druze, entered the conflict. The country has launched air strikes against both Sweida and the capital Damascus.
In total, several hundred people have been killed and many injured in the unrest since Sunday.
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Who are the Druze?
The Druze are an ethnic group that makes up about three percent of the Syrian population, around half a million people, writes BBC. The Druze religion is originally a branch of Shia Islam, but applies a special form of Islam with its own values.
They have long had an uncertain position in Syria and the conflict with the Bedouins in Sweida goes far back in time. During the civil war, the ethnic group had its own militia, to some extent to defend itself against Muslim fundamentalists who saw them as infidels.
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Who rules in Syria?
The former long-time Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad was overthrown in December last year by the Islamist rebel group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). At that time, the country's civil war had been going on since 2011.
Since the overthrow, there has been a sense of unease among Syria's religious and ethnic minorities, including the Druze, about their position in the country, according to AP.
The country is now ruled by HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, who was previously also a member of al-Qaeda. He has promised that the rights of minorities will be protected, but despite this, several sectarian murders have been committed against minorities since al-Assad's fall.
al-Assad was part of the Arab minority Alawites, who apply their own version of Shia Islam, and he gave his ethnic group many benefits at the expense of the country's Sunni Islamic majority.
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Why does Israel support the Druze?
In Israel, there is a Druze minority and the country has appointed itself as the group's protector and has increased its support since the power shift in Syria.
The recent attacks are "a response to the regime's activity against the Druze population" according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
At the same time, the country wants to avoid militant groups on its northern border and has previously warned Syria against deploying military south of Damascus, a possible reason for now entering another war front in addition to those in Lebanon and Gaza.
Robert Geist Pinfold, lecturer in international security at King's College in London, tells TT that Israel has an interest in a weakened Syria.
They are out to keep Syria as unstable as possible for as long as possible, he says.
