Bedouin tribes, who are Sunni Muslims, have primarily lived in Syria's Al-Badia desert, which covers much of country's south and east, including provinces like Sweida, Homs, and Deir ez-Zor. The Druze sect began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. The latest escalation began with a Bedouin tribe in Sweida attacking and robbing a Druze man.