Druze

Israel's Druze are an Arabic-speaking people of a closed, secretive faith who live in hilltop villages of the Galilee and Mount Carmel and, since 1967, in four villages on the slopes of Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights. Unlike other Arab citizens, their men have been conscripted into the army since 1956 and serve in large numbers, many making careers in the security forces, and the state recognises them as a separate religious community with their own courts. Most see themselves first as Druze, then Arab, then Israeli, and resent the 2018 Nation-State Law as a betrayal of their 'covenant of blood'. Each April thousands gather at the tomb of Nabi Shu'ayb, the biblical Jethro, above the Sea of Galilee, under the five-coloured Druze flag. The Golan Druze, long loyal to Syria, have been taking Israeli citizenship in growing numbers since a Hezbollah rocket killed twelve children in Majdal Shams in 2024 and the killings of Druze in Syria's Suwayda in 2025.

Jordan's Druze are a small Arabic-speaking community whose families came mostly from Jabal al-Druze in southern Syria; many took refuge at the Azraq oasis during the 1925 revolt against French rule led by Sultan al-Atrash, living off its salt marshes while supplying the rebels across the border. Their faith, an esoteric offshoot of Ismaili Islam closed to converts since the eleventh century, teaches the transmigration of souls and keeps its scriptures for initiated elders who wear white turbans. The state records them as Muslims, but they do not see themselves as such and have their own personal-status court. Though few in number, they have produced Transjordan's first prime minister, Rashid Tali'a, and the long-serving foreign minister Ayman Safadi.

Lebanon's Druze are an Arabic-speaking people of a closed, secret faith who have held the southern Mount Lebanon range, the Chouf and Aley, for nearly a thousand years, and the slopes of Mount Hermon around Hasbaya, where their holiest sanctuary, the hilltop prayer-retreat of Khalwat al-Bayada, stands among olive groves. Only about one Lebanese in twenty, they punch far above their weight: their feudal lords, the Maan and Shihab emirs, ruled the mountain for centuries, and the Jumblatt and Arslan families still lead them today. White-turbaned initiated elders and their white-veiled wives guard the faith's scriptures, while most younger Druze are uninitiated and often secular. Memories of the 1860 and 1983 wars with their Maronite neighbours have given way to reconciliation, and Druze villages sheltered displaced Shia families in the wars of 2024 and 2026.

Syria's Druze are the largest Druze community in the world, an Arabic-speaking people of a closed faith that broke from Ismaili Islam a thousand years ago, living mostly on the black basalt mountain of Jabal al-Arab around Suwayda and in suburbs of Damascus. Their stone villages, built from Roman ruins, are ruled by clan elders and white-turbaned initiated sheikhs, and their hero Sultan al-Atrash led the 1925 revolt against French rule. After clashes with forces of the new government and Bedouin tribal fighters in 2025 left over 1,700 dead and some 36 villages burned, Suwayda became a self-governing enclave under the spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri. Many families are still displaced, and the province lives under a tight squeeze on roads, salaries and supplies.