Druze community members cross through a hole in the fence between the Golan Heights and Syria

[Starmix]

According to the report, members of the Druze community in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights were seen gathered at the border with Syria and crossing into the buffer zone on Thursday morning. According to Associated Press, it comes as Syrian government officials and leaders in the Druze religious minority announced a renewed ceasefire Wednesday after days of clashes that have threatened to unravel the country’s postwar political transition and drawn military intervention by powerful neighbor Israel. The announcement came after Israel launched rare airstrikes in the heart of Damascus, an escalation in a campaign that it said was intended to defend the Druze and push Islamic militants away from its border. The Druze form a substantial community in Israel as well as in Syria and are seen in Israel as a loyal minority, often serving in the military. The escalation in Syria began with tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks between local Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze armed factions in the southern province of Sweida.

The report also said that government forces that intervened to restore order clashed with the Druze militias, but also, in some cases, attacked civilians. The violence appeared to be the most serious threat yet to efforts by Syria’s new rulers to consolidate control of the country after a rebel offensive led by Islamist insurgent groups ousted longtime despotic leader Bashar Assad in December, ending a nearly 14-year civil war. Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, in footage on state television early Thursday, called the Druze an integral part of Syria and denounced Israel's actions as sowing division. The Druze religious sect began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. More than half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. Druze in the Golan Heights have been gathering along the border fence to protest the violence against Druze in Syria.


Watch the report via the link.