Syrian estate agent Fahd Haidar shuttered his business and got out his rifle to defend his hometown of Jaramana when it came under attack this week by Islamists loyal to the new government.

Seven Druze fighters were among the 17 people killed in the Damascus suburb as clashes raged from Monday into Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

On Wednesday, the sectarian violence spread to the nearby town of Sahnaya, where 22 combatants were killed, the Britain-based war monitor said.

Fourteen years after former ruler Bashar al-Assad's bloody........

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