The coach paced the grounds of a mountain enclave in southwestern Syria, shouting at dozens of latest recruits as they drilled sprints between barricades constructed from outdated automobile tires.
“You need to observe as if it’s actual,” screamed the trainer, Fadi Azam. “Need me to start out capturing at you as an alternative to make it actual?” he stated, lifting his rifle and firing a couple of rounds away from the group, the paw-paw-paw of gunfire echoing throughout the valley on a brisk morning in late January.
“You might be lions, lions!” Mr. Azam yelled on the recruits, among the tens of 1000’s of fighters from Syria’s Druse spiritual minority whose highly effective militias management the rugged province of Sweida, southwest of the capital, Damascus. Sweida is the heartland of the Druse — a strategically necessary area bordering Jordan and close to Israel — and these fighters stand to play a small however important position in Syria’s future.
Because the Islamist rebels who ousted the dictator Bashar al-Assad in December arrange a brand new authorities, they’re searching for to fold disparate militias together with this one, which sprung up throughout Syria’s almost 14-year civil conflict, right into a single nationwide drive. A unified army is essential to securing management over your complete nation and establishing stability, however that purpose has proved elusive.
Since January, a number of of the strongest Druse militias had been in talks with the federal government about their circumstances for becoming a member of the brand new military. They have been skeptical over the interim president’s pledges to guard the rights of Syria’s many non secular and ethnic minorities.
