Syria After Assad: Druse Militia Refuse to Join Syria’s New Army

“Syrian blood must not be shed by Syrian hands.“ Sheikh Marwan al-Rizq says, but the Druze Military Council quickly ramped up its fighters in the last couple of months. This independent militant group trains local men —often educated, white-collar workers such as lawyers but also construction workers— who have bolstered their ranks, and are now exerting authority across the region.
The militias that control the Druse religious minority’s volcanic heartland in southwestern Syria have resisted the new government, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), attempts to bring all armed groups under its control. But as tensions between armed groups escalated, frontiers were rocked by deadly violence in April.

The title Paradise Lost comes from fighter Wael, one of the Druze fighters, who recite the poem for me by John Milton. The poem talks about how mankind will naturally choose evil over good if given the choice.