In this file photo taken on April 30, 2017 a member of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) removes an Islamic State group flag in the town of Tabqa

Islamic State in Syria has executed one of a number of hostages taken from Syria's government-held city of Sweida in an attack last week, local media and a war monitor said on Sunday.

Dozens of people were killed on July 25 in coordinated assaults by Islamic State militants who overran villages and staged multiple suicide attacks inside Sweida city, killing more than 200 people, many of them civilians.

Suwayda24 and Sweida News Network online news outlets said images circulated by Islamic State showed Muhannad Dhouqan Abu Ammar, 19, had been executed by the group.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which also reported the killing of Abu Ammar, said more than 30 people had been kidnapped during the July 25 attack.

The Sweida area, in southwestern Syria, is mostly inhabited by people from the Druze sect. There have been negotiations between Druze authorities and Islamic State for the hostages' release.</s>BEIRUT, Aug 5 — Islamic State in Syria has executed one of a number of hostages taken from Syria’s government-held city of Sweida in an attack last week, local media and a war monitor said today.

Dozens of people were killed on July 25 in coordinated assaults by Islamic State militants who overran villages and staged multiple suicide attacks inside Sweida city, killing more than 200 people, many of them civilians.

Suwayda24 and Sweida News Network online news outlets said images circulated by Islamic State showed Muhannad Dhouqan Abu Ammar, 19, had been executed by the group.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which also reported the killing of Abu Ammar, said more than 30 people had been kidnapped during the July 25 attack.

The Sweida area, in southwestern Syria, is mostly inhabited by people from the Druze sect. There have been negotiations between Druze authorities and Islamic State for the hostages’ release. — Reuters</s>No one talks about it. But it would be a good idea to turn our gaze to Horan, that area in Syria that is home to 800,000 Druze. This week, IS killed a few hundred of them. But that is nothing compared to what Assad’s army plans to do to them if and when it completes the takeover of Syria. The Druze are afraid, and they are already preparing Israel for the possibility that hundreds of thousands of them may reach the Israeli border and attempt to cross it. At the same time, they are already putting their brethren in Israel on alert that they may need to apply pressure on the government to come to their aid.

There are things that are hidden and there are things that are suppressed, or shoved under the rug, so to speak. The problem of the Druze in Syria is one that Israel hopes will go away. But it is close and very liable to crop up full force, irrespective of the National State Law and the status of the Druze community vis-à-vis the law.

It would be a good idea for Israel to turn its sights to Horan. That is where the danger is likely to arise for Israel, from nearly a million Druze whom the Syrians now want to settle accounts with — at this final stage of the war in their country.

And Assad has quite a score to settle with the Druze residents of the Golan Heights.

Among the Druze it is accepted that their loyalty is always to the rulers of the state in which they live. The Druze in Israel are loyal to the State of Israel. Many serve in the IDF and in the security forces. There is even a Druze pilot in the IDF. The Druze living in Lebanon are loyal to the Lebanese government, and so forth. Most of the Druze in the Golan Heights are Syrian citizens who have permanent resident status in Israel. As permanent residents, they have access to Israeli schools and municipal services; they often visit family and go to school in Syria. Druze in the Golan are distinct from other Druze communities in Israel.

The Druze who live in Syria were loyal to the regime of Hafez al-Assad, the father of Bashar, and considered him a close relative even though they were Druze and he was an Alawite. They served in the Syrian army under the Syrian draft law. But this was only the case until the rebellion broke out against Bashar Assad seven years ago. When the rebellion broke out, a fierce argument erupted between the Druze in Syria and their leadership as to whether they should join the uprising, which many of the Syrian Druze perceived as a justified cause, and which the leaders prevented them from joining.

A compromise was reached: The Syrian Druze would sit on the fence. They would not get involved, not on the side of the rebels nor on the side of Assad.

The president of Syria took this very hard. He summoned the Druze leadership but was not able to persuade them with sweet talk and incentives. Then he switched tactics and used threats. He demanded that they send their young men to fight in the Syrian army, but they refused. Moreover, all Syrian Druze who reached the age of 18 received orders from their leaders not to report to the draft offices until the state of war in the country ended.

Throughout the past seven years, the Syrian defense ministry has amassed a list of 40,000 young Druze men out of a total of one million Druze in the country who did not report for army service and are considered deserters and lawbreakers. Under Syrian law, especially in emergency circumstances, their punishment is clear.

But Assad has delayed settling accounts with these young men and with the Druze community until the time that he completely takes back his country from the rebels. That time is drawing closer, and thus the Druze in Horan and all over Syria are becoming very afraid.

Over the last week, during the battles to capture the region in the triangle between the borders of Israel, Syria and Jordan — which is under IS control — clashes broke out between IS forces and Druze residents of Horan. It began over nothing, but ended in a series of murderous attacks that IS carried out on the Druze, killing some 300 of them. Dozens were abducted and disappeared.

The conflict between the two sides escalated rapidly, in a matter of days. Assad’s army is not far from there, and it may take advantage of the developments to try and reach the battlefront and make order. But the Druze are no less afraid of the arrival of Assad than they are of IS.

Forty thousand young Druze men who are on the list of deserters are already packed and ready to flee. Where to? The only possibility for them is to try and land on Israel’s borders and exercise the “covenant between brothers” with the Israelis. That is despite the fact that these Druze in Horan, in contrast to their brothers in Israel, joined all the Arab armies that fought against Israel since the War of Independence.

But the threat is mounting. And in Israel, they are secretly preparing for the arrival of tens of thousands of Druze at the border fence in the Golan, which their Israeli Druze brothers will surely try to breach so they can pass. The Druze IDF officers, including several high-ranking ones, are already working behind the scenes for Israel to rally to the aid of the Syrian Druze.

Israel has not yet formulated a strategy to deal with this problem. It needs to hurry and do so before it all comes to a head one fine morning. In the past, there was an idea to mass thousands of Druze along the Syrian side of the border and provide them with day-to-day assistance. But based on the experience of helping the Syrian villagers near the Israeli border, it is not clear that this is a good solution.

Israel will deliberate extensively whether to open its borders to the Druze whose lives are in danger, but ultimately it is not clear that it will not open them, especially under pressure of the Israeli Druze leadership, which has a lot of influence in Israel.

Either way, that “blood covenant” between the State of Israel and the Druze makes it necessary to address the issue and find a reasonable solution for the community that — of all the other sects — has indeed been close to Israel and has forged a certain connection with it. There were aberrations in this connection. But that does not mean that all the rest should be harmed.

It is going to be Israel’s challenge in the next few months, or possibly even in the next few days, as events in Syria progress towards the completion of Assad’s takeover of all of southern Syria. Israel will face a dilemma over whether to provide weapons to the community so that they can defend themselves in Horan, if Israel doesn’t come to their assistance, and if Israel doesn’t actually have to take action on the ground over there. The Druze will ask Israel to train their men to face the threats at home, and Israel will not want to establish training bases in Israel. The compromise can be that the training will take place but it will happen in…Jordan, by Druze officers who have served in the IDF and who will be employed by private companies.

Israel has an obligation to the Druze, but it also needs to be deliberate and cautious in its behavior so that it does not reach a state of having to control Druze areas, something that the Druze do not want either.</s>IS kills one of dozens of hostages in Syria

BEIRUT: The Islamic State jihadist group has executed one of dozens of Druze hostages abducted from Syria’s southern province of Sweida last week, a journalist in the area and a monitor said Sunday. IS went on a rampage in Sweida on July 25, killing more than 250 people — mostly civilians - in the deadliest attack ever to target the mostly government-held province and its Druze religious minority. The jihadists also kidnapped more than 30 people, most of them women and children, from a village in the province, which had previously remained largely isolated from Syria’s seven-year civil war. On Thursday, IS killed a 19-year-old male student who was among the hostages, the head of the Sweida24 news website Nour Radwan told AFP. Quoting relatives, Radwan, who was speaking from Sweida, said the young man was taken from the village of Al-Shabki on July 25 along with his mother. His family received two videos, the first showing him being decapitated and the second of him speaking before being killed as well as images of his body after his death, Radwan said. Sweida, 24, posted online part of a second video, which was seen by AFP, showing a bearded young man who appeared to be sitting on the ground in a landscape of grey rocks.</s>ISIS has executed one of a number of hostages taken from Syria’s Sweida, home to a large community of Druze, in an attack last week, local media and a war monitor said on Sunday.

ISIS killed the 19-year-old male student on Thursday after kidnapping more than 30 people, mostly women and children, from a village in Sweida during a deadly rampage last week, the head of the Sweida24 news website Nour Radwan told AFP.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a Britain-based war monitor, said it was the first execution since the kidnappings.

Dozens of people were killed on July 25 in coordinated assaults by ISIS militants who overran villages and staged multiple suicide attacks inside Sweida city, killing more than 200 people, many of them civilians, Reuters reported.

SOHR said more than 30 people had been kidnapped during the attack.

There have been negotiations between Druze authorities and ISIS for the hostages’ release.</s>IS kills one of dozens of hostages in south Syria

BEIRUT: The Islamic State jihadist group has executed one of dozens of Druze hostages abducted from Syria’s southern province of Sweida last week, a journalist in the area and a monitor said yesterday. IS went on a rampage in Sweida on July 25, killing more than 250 people — mostly civilians – in the deadliest attack ever to target the mostly government-held province and its Druze religious minority.

The jihadists also kidnapped more than 30 people, most of them women and children, from a village in the province, which had previously remained largely isolated from Syria’s seven-year civil war. On Thursday, IS killed a 19-year-old male student who was among the hostages, the head of the Sweida24 news website Nour Radwan told AFP. Quoting relatives, Radwan, who was speaking from Sweida, said the young man was taken from the village of Al-Shabki on July 25 along with his mother.

 His family received two videos, the first showing him being decapitated and the second of him speaking before being killed as well as images of his body after his death, Radwan said. Sweida24 posted online part of a second video, which was seen by AFP, showing a bearded young man who appeared to be sitting on the ground in a landscape of grey rocks. He is wearing a black T-shirt and tracksuit bottoms, and his hands are tied behind his back. The video could not be independently verified. IS has not claimed the kidnappings and did not publish the video on its usual channels.

IS jihadists have lost much of the territory they once controlled in Syria after overrunning large swathes of it in 2014, but they retain a presence in the east of the country and in the vast Badiya desert that sweeps through its south. The regime has been fighting in recent weeks to expel IS fighters from a patch in the neighboring province of Daraa.

 The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said the young man’s execution was the first since the kidnappings. The execution came “after the failure of talks between IS and regime forces over the transfer of IS fighters from the southwest of Daraa province to the Badiya” desert, said the Observatory. It also follows the execution of 50 IS fighters and civilians in Daraa province earlier this week at the hands of rebels, according to the monitor, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.

On Friday, a top Druze religious leader said Syrian regime ally Russia was in talks with the jihadists over the release of those abducted in Sweida. Sweida24 said the oldest woman seized was 60. Druze, which made up three percent of Syria’s population before 2011, are considered Muslim but IS sees them as heretics.

Syria expert Khattar Abu Diab said that the events of July 25 in Sweida marked a turning point for the country’s Druze community. “For this ancestral community, the abduction of women oversteps all red lines,” he said. “Their reaction will depend on the outcome of negotiations but if all the hostages were killed” the Druze could directly intervene to expel IS from the desert, he said.

Regime forces have in recent weeks ousted IS from all of the towns and villages in the Yarmuk Basin in the northwest of Daraa province. Syria’s state media have said regime troops are pursuing the last remaining jihadists who fled to nearby valleys. In areas it has retaken from rebels and jihadists in recent years, the Russia-backed regime has sometimes negotiated to take back control of land in exchange for the transfer of fighters to other parts of Syria.

During the July 25 attack in Sweida, the jihadists abducted 36 Druze women and children from a village in Sweida’s east, the Observatory said at the time. Four women had since escaped while two had died, leaving 14 women and 16 children in IS captivity, according to the Observatory. At the time, another 17 men were unaccounted for but it was unclear if they were also kidnapped.

Local sources say the families of the abductees have been sent photos and videos of their loved ones via WhatsApp. The Sweida killing is the first such execution of a kidnapped civilian by IS since the jihadists overran the town of Al-Qaryatain in central Syria for several weeks in October last year, the Observatory said. – AFP</s>BEIRUT: The IS group has executed one of dozens of Druze hostages abducted from Syria’s southern province of Sweida last week, a journalist in the area and a monitor said on Sunday. IS went on a rampage in Sweida on July 25, killing more than 250 people — mostly civilians — in the deadliest attack ever to target the mostly government-held province and its Druze religious minority. The militants also kidnapped more than 30 people, most of them women and children, from a village in the province, which had previously remained largely isolated from Syria’s seven-year civil war.

 On Thursday, IS killed a 19-year-old male student who was among the hostages, the head of the Sweida24 news website Nour Radwan said.

 Quoting relatives, Radwan, who was speaking from Sweida, said the young man was taken from the village of Al Shabki on July 25 along with his mother.

 His family received two videos, the first showing him being decapitated and the second of him speaking before being killed as well as images of his body after his death, Radwan said.

 Sweida24 posted online part of a second video, which was seen by AFP, showing a bearded young man who appeared to be sitting on the ground in a landscape of grey rocks.

 He is wearing a black T-shirt and tracksuit bottoms, and his hands are tied behind his back.

 IS has not claimed the kidnappings and did not publish the video on its usual channels.

 IS militants have lost much of the territory they once controlled in Syria after overrunning large swathes of it in 2014, but they retain a presence in the east of the country and in the vast Badiya desert that sweeps through its south. The government has been fighting in recent weeks to expel IS fighters from a patch in the neighbouring province of Deraa.

 The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said the young man’s execution was the first since the kidnappings.

 The execution came “after the failure of talks between IS and Syrian forces over the transfer of IS fighters from the southwest of Deraa province to the Badiya” desert.

 It also follows the execution of 50 IS fighters and civilians in Deraa province earlier last week at the hands of rebels, according to the monitor, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.

 Last Friday, a top Druze religious leader said Syrian ally Russia was in talks with the IS over the release of those abducted in Sweida. Sweida24 said the oldest woman seized was 60.

 Druze, which made up three per cent of Syria’s population before 2011.

 — AFP</s>The Islamic State jihadist group has executed one of dozens of Druze hostages abducted from Syria's southern province of Sweida last month, a Syrian news website and a monitor said Sunday.

IS killed the 19-year-old male student on Thursday after kidnapping more than 30 people, mostly women and children, from a village in Sweida during a deadly rampage last week, the head of the Sweida24 news website Nour Radwan told AFP.

Quoting relatives, Radwan said the young man was taken from the village of Al-Shabki on July 25 along with his mother.

His family received two videos, the first showing him being decapitated and the second of him speaking before being killed as well as images of his body after his death, Radwan said.

Sweida24 posted online part of a second video, which was seen by AFP, showing a young man who appeared to be sitting on the ground in a rocky landscape, wearing a black T-shirt with his hands tied behind his back.

The video could not be independently verified.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said it was the first execution since the kidnappings.

On July 25, IS carried out a series of attacks in Sweida's provincial capital and several villages that killed more than 250 people, mostly civilians.

It was the deadliest attack ever to target the mostly government-held province and the secretive Druze religious minority that populates it.

During the attack the jihadists abducted 36 Druze women and children from a village in Sweida's east, the Observatory said at the time.

Four women had since escaped while two had died, leaving 14 women and 16 children in IS captivity, according to the Observatory.

At the time, another 17 men were unaccounted for but it was unclear if they were also kidnapped.

On Friday, a top Druze religious leader said regime ally Russia was in talks with the jihadists over their release.

Sweida had until last week largely remained isolated from Syria's seven-year conflict.

Druze, which made up three percent of Syria's population before 2011, are considered Muslim but IS see them as heretics.</s>The Islamic State group has executed one of a number of hostages it took last month in multiple attacks on Syria’s southern province of Sweida, according to a Syrian watchdog and local media.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and news outlets report IS has circulated images showing that the group executed a young man.

The French news agency (AFP) reports that the victim’s relatives say he was abducted from his village, along with his mother.

On July 25, scores of IS militants went on a rampage, raiding homes in Sweida’s provincial capital and several villages, shooting and killing civilians and abducting women and children from their homes.

More than 200 people were killed and at least 30 people were kidnapped.

Sweida is mainly made up of members of Syria’s Druze, an ancient religious sect. They are Muslim, but IS considers them heretics.</s>It is a that video depicts violent cruelty filmed somewhere in southern Syria.

"My fate is the result of the failed negotiations between the Islamic State and Druze authorities," said 19-year-old Muhannad Abu Ammar. "I hope that my kidnappers' demands will be met so that others will be spared my fate."

The Druzian teenager's plea for mercy was not granted. Presumably a short time after the video was made, militants from the Islamic State (IS) executed him. They sent the recording to Ammar's family along with another video showing his beheaded corpse.

The video, which has been circulated online, is terrible news for the relatives of the other hostages being held captive by IS.

Read more: Iraq's Yazidis mourn the loss of their homeland

On July 25, IS militants raided the town Al-Shabki near the city of Sweida in southern Syria, killing around 250 people. The population of the town fought back as best they could, but were unable to stop 36 inhabitants — mainly women and children — from being taken hostage. Shortly afterward, the militants released a video showing one of the hostages, who said that IS may kill the entire group.

This latest video of Ammar points towards the fact that, in the opinion of IS, the hostage negotiations have been considered a failure. Russia, too, has recently been involved in talks with the terrorist militia.

Syria's Druze community has attempted to stay as far away as possible from the country's ongoing civil war, but those efforts have not been entirely successful. The Druze played an active role in the Syrian military before the outbreak of the conflict, however, they always avoided aligning with a clear political position.

The Druze are a minority group in every country in which they live. As well as Syria, there are significant communities in Lebanon and Israel. In Syria, which had a prewar population of 21 million people, 700,000 inhabitants are Druzian — roughly 3.5 percent. In Lebanon they make up between 4 and 5 percent of the population; in Israel, not even 2 percent. A small number of Druze also live in Jordan.

Read more: Are Taliban and Kabul teaming up against 'Islamic State'?

Their livelihoods are correspondingly precarious. In Lebanon, the Druze have the right to self-govern and their status is legally recognized, but they don't wholly fit into the societal structure. Unlike Sunni and Shiite Muslims and Christians, they do not have a place at the table when it comes to the country's large political and denominational groups.

"The discrepancy between their historical heritage and the political reality of the present leads to considerable disillusionment and the feeling of being suppressed," author and legal scholar Abbas Halabi wrote in his book on the history of the Druze.

In Syria, the Druze gained considerable political influence after the Baath party took power in 1963, but were then gradually sidelined. This forced the minority group to learn early that Shiite Muslims were a force to be reckoned with in the country. This position also led to their, comparatively, restrained policy during the Syrian civil war. In the course of the conflict, however, they increasingly came into contact with extremists such as the Nusra Front and IS. It is these tensions that cost the life of young Ammar.

Under threat in Israel, too

The Druze regard themselves as an independent minority and their spiritual practice is influenced by various religions. They don't see themselves as Muslims, which has made their integration in Israel considerably easier. But a recently-passed law in the country risks alienating the group. Israeli Druze have voiced their concerns and displeasure at the new nation-state law, which defines the country as an exclusively Jewish state.

In July, a 23-year-old Druzian man Shady Zidan caused a sensation after publicly declaring his withdrawal from the country's military, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), citing the new legislation.

Read more: Israel's new nation-state law and the politics of superiority

"I am not a political person ... But I am a citizen, like all others, and give my all and more for the country. In the end, I am a second-class citizen?" he wrote in a post on Facebook. "So thank you, I am not prepared to be part of this, and ... I have decided to stop serving this country."

"Until today, I stood in front of the national flag with pride and I saluted it. Until today, I sang the Hatikva national anthem because I was sure that this is my country and I am equal to all others," Zidan added. "But today, today I refused for the first time in my service to salute the flag, I refused for the first time to sing the national anthem."

Zidan is just one of a number of Israeli Druze who have expressed their opposition to the new law.

By vocalizing their concerns with the new exclusionary measure, the Druze have pushed the issue to the fore of the public debate in Israel. Many people have expressed sympathy for a community they view as loyal to the state. "The Druze deserve more," Amiram Levin, a former major general in the IDF, wrote in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. "We all deserve more. We must no longer remain silent. We should all join the Druze struggle and repeal the nation-state law."

The IDF immediately issued a statement in response to the comment from Zidan. "The shared responsibility and the warrior’s camaraderie with our brothers the Druze, Bedouin, and other minorities serving in the IDF, will continue to guide us," said Gadi Eizenkot, chief of staff of the IDF. "Trust us, we will fight for you."

Threatened with death and violence in Syria and being stripped of civil rights in Israel, the Druze are facing hostility in different forms in both countries. In each case, they are being forced to redefine their communities' relationship with the states in which they live.
Syrian media reports that ISIL has executed one of a number of Druze hostages taken from Syria's government-held city of As-Suwayda in an attack last week.