DHAKA: At least 20 Druze villagers have been shot dead by the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front in north-western Syria, activist and opposition groups say.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said elderly people and a child were among those killed in Qalb Lawzah in Idlib province on Wednesday afternoon, the BBC publishes this report on Thursday.

The Druze faith is an offshoot of Islam considered heretical by jihadists.

However, al-Nusra’s leader vowed last month not to harm members of religious minorities who did not fight it.

The group is part of a rebel alliance, the Army of Conquest, which has taken control of much of Idlib in the past three months, driving out government forces.

Another rebel alliance was reported to have launched an assault on the government air base in the south of the country on Thursday.

A rebel spokesman said they had managed to seize most of the al-Thala base, but state television reported that three rebel attacks had been repelled.

BDST: 2215 HRS, JUN 11, 2015
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