As alarming sectarian violence swept through Syria in the third week of July, Christian communities in the region experienced a new wave of persecution. Attacks on the country's Christian, Druze and Alawite communities were perpetrated mainly by Islamist jihadists.

It says that 300 Druze were killed, including 146 fighters and 154 civilians, 83 of whom were "summarily executed" by government forces. At least 257 government personnel and 18 Bedouin fighters were also killed,

Syria's Druze are concentrated in the southwest in the Sweida region bordering Jordan and in areas of Quneitra province, near the occupied Golan. They also reside in the Damascus