AILSA CHANG, HOST:
In Syria, the new government's effort to disband militias and create a national army has run into roadblocks. One of them is the Druze religious minority. It says it is keeping its weapons because it is distrustful of the new government and fears sectarian attacks. NPR's Jane Arraf reports from the southern province of Suwayda (ph).
(SOUNDBITE OF DOVES COOING)
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: Doves cooing in cages hung from black stone walls are the loudest sound at Ain al-Zaman, a Druze shrine in the city of Suwayda.
(SOUNDBITE OF BABY CRYING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: Women come and go, some bringing newborn babies for blessings. The Druze faith is an offshoot of Shia Islam, which has adopted features of other religions, including the belief in reincarnation. Druze make up less than 3% of Syria's population, but they're a majority in Suwayda, Syria's southernmost province, which borders Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAR HORN HONKING)
ARRAF: In an overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim country, Druze over the centuries have carved out a refuge around the volcanic mountains and fertile soil here. Druze militias secure the region. They say the forces of the new government formed after President Bashar al-Assad fled last December are not welcome here.
(CROSSTALK)
ARRAF: In the village of Qanawat, Druze elders and visiting dignitaries crowd a reception hall, waiting to see the Druze spiritual leader, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri. Hijri says they fear the Islamist militant group that overthrew the old regime.
HIKMAT AL-HIJRI: (Through interpreter) Armed terrorist factions now consider themselves in charge of the administration in Damascus. This is neither acceptable on the Syrian level nor internationally.
ARRAF: Fundamentalist Sunni Muslim militants consider the Druze infidels. In 2015, a Sunni militant group killed dozens of Druze in Idlib province, where most fighters supporting Syrian Prime Minister Ahmed al-Sharaa are from.
AL-HIJRI: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: Hijri, who is 75, says talks continue with Shaara. But the Druze so far have not agreed to integrate their fighters into the national security forces. Shaara has tried to assure minority groups they'll be safe in the new Syria. But in March, hundreds of Alawites, the Shia sect of the deposed prime minister, were killed by Sunni militants near Latakia. Druze worried they would be next evacuated to Suwayda.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Chanting in non-English language).
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP #1: (Singing in non-English language).
ARRAF: Militia fighters welcome them home.
It's late at night, and we're on the highway between Damascus and Suwayda. There are all of these buses coming back, and they're filled with students - more than 1,000 of them - Druze students, from the Druze religious minority, who have come back from the coast, where there have been killings of the Alawite minority.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP #2: (Singing in non-English language).
ARRAF: Some of them danced in the aisles in celebration as they crossed Druze checkpoints to the relative safety of their home province.
What were you studying?
AMIR AL-BADISH: I'm studying of - actually, of economics. I'm in the graduation year. (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: That's Amir al-Badish (ph). He's 23, and he was supposed to graduate in a few months and help build this new Syria. Instead, the community has retreated to the Druze heartland, and their militias are preparing for battle. We go to the home of Sheikh Yasser Abu Fakhr. His horse Wafaa (ph), Loyalty, is tied up outside.
YASSER ABU FAKHR: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: He says his Men of Dignity movement has fighters in 100 villages on the mountains, armed with rifles, machine guns, rockets and mortars to fight government forces if they have to. Some of the weapons were seized from abandoned regime army bases in December.
ABU FAKHR: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: "We're ready. We have weapons, and we will not let them enter our mountains," he says. Abu Fakhr, like most militia commanders in Suwayda, reject help from Israel, which has warned it will attack Syrian government forces if they threaten the Druze who also have a presence in Israel. But there are other militias forming.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Non-English language spoken).
TARIQ AL-SHOUFI: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: The newest is the Suwayda military council, led by Tariq al-Shoufi, an officer who defected from the previous regime.
AL-SHOUFI: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: "We ask the free world led by the United States, and we ask Israel, to defend the entire Druze nation against any extremist attack," he says.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: (Non-English language spoken).
(SOUNDBITE OF GLASS SMASHING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #5: (Non-English language spoken).
(CROSSTALK)
ARRAF: At a village meeting, his host smashed the coffee cup he's been drinking from, a local tradition to signify their respect. He asks the men to fight with him.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP #3: (Singing in non-English language).
ARRAF: The response - battle songs. "Our swords are flashing like lightning. We will never accept humiliation," they chant. Jane Arraf, NPR News, Suwayda, Syria.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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