Syria’s Al Qaeda branch kills 20 minority Druze villagers

BEIRUT // Syrian rebels seized most of a military airport in regime-controlled Sweida province on Thursday and shot down a warplane nearby, a spokesman for the Southern Front alliance said.

It comes one day after Jabhat Al Nusra, Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, killed at least 20 villagers belonging to the minority Druze sect after a confrontation in northwestern Idlib province.

The killings in Idlib were the deadliest against the Druze sect, which has been split between supporters and opponents of President Bashar Al Assad, since Syria’s crisis began in March 2011.

“The Southern Front has liberated Al Thaala military airport and is carrying out mopping-up operations against remaining forces,” said the alliance’s spokesman, Major Essam Al Rayes, on Thursday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human rights also reported the rebel advance into the airport in the Druze-majority southern province.

“They have control of parts of the airport, which is used by the regime for aircraft that bomb Deraa and Damascus provinces,” said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

But Syrian state television denied the claims, and interviewed the provincial governor, who accused media of spreading lies.

“There is no truth to claims that terrorist groups have occupied Al Thaala in Sweida province,” state television said.

“We’re used to the criminal media and their falsehoods; the information being reported is baseless and life continues as normal in the province,” Governor Atef Al Nadaf said.

Gov Rayes also said Southern Front forces had shot down a warplane in the border region between Sweida and neighbouring Deraa province.

State television acknowledged that “a warplane went down in the southern region and an investigation into the causes is underway”. The advance into Al Thaala airport comes a day after the Southern Front alliance – made up of moderate and extremist rebel forces – seized the 52nd Brigade base in Deraa province.

Mr Abdel Rahman said many of the regime forces who fled the 52nd Brigade as it was captured had withdrawn to Al Thaala, which lies some 10 kilometres away.

Sweida province has been spared much of the fighting in Syria, and remains almost entirely under regime control.

Most of its residents are Druze, followers of a secretive offshoot of Shiite Islam, who made up around three per cent of Syria’s pre-war population of 23 million people.

The community has been somewhat divided during the country’s uprising, with some members fighting alongside the government while others expressing sympathy for the opposition.

Mostly, the Druze have taken up arms only in defence of their areas, and have kept out of the fighting more broadly.

On Thursday, the Southern Front sought to reassure Sweida’s residents.

“We stress that the people of Sweida are our brothers and our people, and we... will not fight them,” Maj Rayes said.

The statement also condemned “in the strongest terms” the deaths of at least 20 Druze residents reportedly killed by Al Nusra on Wednesday.

The Druze villagers were killed in Qalb Lawzeh village in the Jabal Al Summaq region, where Al Nusra fighters have dug up historic graves and destroyed shrines in recent months.

The Southern Front has sought to distance itself from Al Nusra and said in March it would not cooperate with the group.

But it has found itself fighting on the same side as the Al Qaeda affiliate, including in battles against the militant ISIL group.

* Agence France-Presse and Associated Press