AFP, BEIRUT: At least 20 members of Syria's Druze minority have been killed in an unprecedented shoot-out with Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front in northwestern Syria, a monitor said yesterday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the deaths came Wednesday in the village of Qalb Lawzah in Idlib province, most of which is now controlled by an alliance including Al-Nusra.
Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said villagers had protested after a Tunisian Al-Nusra leader "tried to seize a house belonging to a Druze resident of Qalb Lawzah, claiming he was loyal to the regime."
"Relatives of the owner of the house protested and tried to stop him, then there was an altercation and shooting," he added.