| Battle of Dama | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theSyrian civil war | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 al-Nusra FrontSunniBedouin tribes |  Druze armed groups Ba'athist Syria | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Abu Mohammad al-Julani | Wahid al-Balous | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| al-Nusra Front | Men of DignityJaysh al-MuwahhidinPopular Committees | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | 18 fighters killed | ||||||
 | |||||||
TheBattle of Dama (Arabic:معركة داما), also known as theal-Karama battle by theMen of Dignity, was a battle for the city ofDama, Suwayda carried out byDruze militants againstAl-Nusra Front.
The battle began on 16 August 2014, following the bombing of the city ofDama andDeir Dama, in the rural area ofSuwayda Governorate either by theAl-Nusra Front, affiliated withAl-Qaeda,[1] or bySunniBedouin tribes, due to disagreements over grazing inSuwayda Governorate.[2]
Wahid al-Balous, a well-knownDruze sheikh, fought in the battle alongsideBa'athist Syria,[3] with other pro-Assad militias, such asJaysh al-Muwahhidin andPopular Committees.[4] The battle ended on 20 August 2014.[5]
18Druze fighters died in the battle, among them the brother ofWahid al-Balous.[2]
The battle was known as "al-Karama battle" or "battle of dignity" and the groups that participated in it were called theMen of Dignity thereafter. At the funeral, held in the city's municipal stadium,Wahid al-Balous appeared and declared himself to be the leader of the groupMen of Dignity,[1] in addition to declaring that theBa'athist Syria "shot his men in the back".[3]
In September 2015, a car bomb exploded, killing al-Balous. The person whom the Assad regime declared responsible for the act was a militant fromAl-Nusra Front, Wafi Abu Trabi.[6]
