According to one source, there are approximately 420,000 Druze living in Syria, which is equivalent to four percent of the total population, [R.B. Betts, The Druze, (Princeton, N.J.: Yale University Press, 1988) p. 56.] however no accurate figures exist since government census statistics are based on estimates.

The Druze largely inhabit the southeastern region of Syria, near the Israeli and Jordanian borders, in an area known as the Jabal Druze [Richard F. Nyrop, Syria: A Country Study, (Washington D.C.: American University, 1979), pp. 48-49.]. Incidentally, this region was renamed Jabal al-Arab (the Arab Mountains) as a symbol of the Druze assimilation into the Syrian identity. [Kais Firro, "Political Behaviour of the Druze as a Minority in the Middle EastA Historical Perspective", (Mimeographed). Haifa: The University of Haifa, 1986.]

The Syrian state further fosters the assimilation of the Druze through the dominant government Baath ideology which emphasizes the integration of minorities into Syrian society. Minorities are encouraged to become involved in political life and to join the armed forces. [Shagib Salah, "Druze Political Behaviour", in The Druze in Israel/Hadruzim Biesrael, (Haifa: The University of Haifa, Jewish-Arab Center, 1984), Occasional Papers on the Middle East (New Series), 1984, No. 6, p. 51.]

Socio-economic and political development among the Druze have weakened communal ties and primordial relations that had previously bonded the community. [Kais Firro, "The Druze in and between Syria, Lebanon and Israel", in Ethnicity, Pluralism and the State in the Middle East, edited by Milton Esman and Itamar Rabinovich, (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1988), p. 193.] Although the community is still based on kinship and extended family structures, kinship solidarity has steadily decreased among the Druze in Syria.

As a small minority, the Druze could not defend themselves by military means, and so throughout history they have adopted the principle of taqia which allows them to deny outwardly their faith while allying themselves with the religion of the majority, usually Sunni Muslim, and sometimes even with Christians. [Betts, Ibid., p. 20.] The Druze share this principle with other Shi'ite groups, mainly Ismailis and Alawis, and it enables them to avoid being exposed to constant hostility while practising their own faith secretly and safely. [Firro, 1988, p. 11.] Through the principle of taqia the Druze can easily adapt to different and changing circumstances and can cooperate with other religious groups.

In Syria, the Druze have been exposed to Islamization which they have countered by identifying with the existing regime. In Israel they link their fate closely to the state of Israel, while in Lebanon they have retained a strong identity all the while they formed political allegiances with various Muslim sects by creating the Lebanese left. [Don Peretz, The Middle East Today, third edition, (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1978), pp. 363-368.]

Attached, please find excerpts taken from Syria: A Country Study, where the Druze are mentioned.

No further information is currently available to the IRB Documentation Centre on the subject of the Druze in Syria.