An offshoot of Shia Islam, the minority can trace its history back to the 11th Century.
In fact, it can narrow down its beginnings to a specific date – Thursday, 30 May 1017 when its three founding fathers moved to Egypt.
The trio of Hamza ibn Ali ibn Ahmad, an Ismaili mystic and scholar from Khorasan, al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, the caliph of the Fatimid empire, and Muhammad bin Ismail Nashtakin ad-Darazi decided to build a new sect of Islam focused only on maintaining a relationship with the one all-powerful god
It was Ad-Darazi who, on Thursday, 30 May 1017, made the first call for new followers of the all-new Druze faith. He then traveled the Middle East building the following of the new religion.
In 1043, the call was closed and, for the last thousand years, no new followers have been allowed. There are now approximately one million Druze people globally and they are all direct descendants of those who answered the call and joined the faith in those 25 years in the 11th century.
Today, the Druze are spread around the world, though the vast majority remain in the Middle East. The largest community is in Syria which is home to around 700,000, while Israel is home to around 150,000.
There are around one million Druze spread around the globe (Image: Getty)Getty Images
In Israel, the community is generally well regarded, especially as it has one of the highest IDF enlistment rates of any minority group.
But in Syria successive governments in recent decades have been hostile to the community due to religious and political differences.
Over generations the Druze have frequently faced massacres, forced conversion to Islam and the demolition of their places of worship.
After former president Bashar al-Assad was overthrown last year, he was replaced by the new interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa. Al-Sharaa’s party, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) was formerly the branch of Al Qaeda in Syria and, therefore, a Sunni Islamist groupd that was hostile to the Druze and other non-conforming minorities.
Fierce fighting between the Druze and the Syrian government broke out this week (Image: Getty)AFP via Getty Images
During the recent round of fighting, Israeli Druze flocked over the border to help their Syrian counterparts battle security services.
Tensions rose even higher as more Israeli citizens became involved in the conflict leading Benjamin Netanyahu to call for restraint.
However, he has since called for the entire area south of Damascus up to the Israeli border to be “demilitarised” and indicated that he would order the resumption of strikes in the event of a threat to “our brothers the Druze”.
