Jihadists carry out a massacre in the village of Qalb Lawzah, Idlib province. Until now, the conflict had spared the Druze minority. However, local sources report that the Druze had been subjected to religious persecution for some time. Druze leaders in Lebanon and Israel rule out a military response to avoid involvement in the conflict.

Damascus (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Syria’s civil war has now hit the country’s Druze minority, fuelling tensions in neighbouring Lebanon and Israel, home to substantial Druze communities that are divided between a desire to defend their co-religionists and a fear of being caught up in the war.

At least 20 members of Syria's Druze minority were killed on Wednesday in an unprecedented shoot-out with the anti-Assad Al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaida affiliate.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the massacre took place on Wednesday in the village of Qalb Lawzah, Idlib province, and included some elderly people and at least one child.

The Druze faith is an offshoot of Islam, deemed heretical by radical Islamists and jihadists. In Syria, the Druze have largely kept out of the country’s civil war, only taking up arms to defend their towns and villages.

Last month, al-Nusra leader Abu Mohammed al-Julani told Al Jazeera that Druze would not be targeted. However, local witnesses said that Druze living in Idlib have been subjected to religious persecution by al-Nusra with several hundred forced to convert to Sunni Islam.

Citing local sources, Syrian state-owned SANA news agency said that the dead in Qalb Lawzah included five members of a single family, three clerics and two women.

The shooting occurred after an al-Nusra commander tried to confiscate a house belonging to a Druze man who he claimed was loyal to the Syrian government. Relatives of the house's owner protested and tried to stop the commander.

The dispute soon turned violent and at least 20 villagers were shot in the ensuing clash. Eventually, rebel groups allied to al-Nusra, including Ahrar al-Sham, intervened to stop the carnage.

The Druze made up about 3 per cent of Syria's 22.5 million population before the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in 2011.

Many Druze live in the Jabal al-Druze region in the southern province of Suwayda, where they constitute the vast majority of the local population. But there are also several Druze villages in other parts of the country, including in Idlib.

Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt said he had made contact with Syrian opposition factions and "influential regional forces” in order to guarantee the security of Druze villages in Idlib, which had "stood by the revolution".

Today, he was scheduled to attend an emergency meeting of Lebanon's Druze Spiritual Council to ease tensions and avoid an armed response across the border.

Despite ruling out direct military intervention to help hundreds of thousands of Druze, Israel too has been closely monitoring the situation.

The Israeli government is convinced that the use of military force would imply a direct involvement in Syria’s civil war.

Meanwhile, President Assad appears increasingly willing to hang tough in Damascus and the Alawi stronghold in north-western Syria, leaving the rest of the country in the hands of jihadists.

• syria
• lebanon
• israel
• druze
• massacre
• al-nusra
• front