Hundreds of armed Druze men are seen setting up positions to defend their towns after dozens killed in attacks near Damascus by Islamists loyal to new government

A war monitor and an activist group say clashes broke out in the Syrian capital between local gunmen belonging to the minority Druze sect and pro-government fighters.

Fifteen Druze fighters have been killed in an ambush near the Syrian capital, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday, following days of deadly sectarian violence involving members of