Druze Revolts

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DRUZE REVOLTS

Druze uprisings in Syria and Lebanon in the 1830s.

These large-scale revolts erupted among the Druze (particularly in Hawran) beginning in 1837, when Ibrahim Pasha ibn Muhammad Ali sought to force conscription in the region to support his adventures and those of his father. The Egyptian force sent from Damascus to suppress the rebels was defeated. The Druze of Hawran were soon aided by those from Shuf and Wadi al-Taym, and by Muslims from Mount Nablus in Palestine, who also were subject to conscription. During the revolt, a Druze warrior named Shibli al-Aryan became a national hero. Ibrahim Pasha's frustration in dealing with Druze rebels led him to request Bashir II to send Christian fighters to quell the rebellion. The Christian soldiers were under the command of Bashir's son Khalil, which reinforced Druze suspicions about Bashir's sectarian biases. The revolt failed, but it resulted in intensified sectarian animosities in the mountain regions for years to come.

See also Druze; Ibrahim ibn Muhammad Ali.

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