A delegation of Syrian Druse made a uncommon go to to Israel over the weekend for a pilgrimage to a shrine as Israel seeks to increase its affect inside Syria after the autumn of the dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Each Israel and Syria have sizable minorities who belong to the Druse sect — an Arabic-speaking non secular minority scattered throughout the Levant area. However with Israel and Syria formally at conflict for many years, Syrian Druse had been typically unable to enter Israel to go to websites holy to their religion.
Sheikh Muwafaq Tarif, a Druse chief in Israel who helped manage the two-day go to, mentioned roughly 100 individuals arrived on Friday in a convoy from Syrian territory. In addition they visited the Tomb of the Prophet Shuaib within the northern Galilee area of Israel, a web site deeply revered of their religion.
“After being reduce off for many years, to see our individuals arriving in our nation — it’s a second of nice pleasure,” mentioned Mr. Tarif, including that he knew many of the guests solely from telephone conversations, given the good problem of touring between the 2 international locations.
In Israel, many Druse maintain Israeli passports, serve within the nationwide army and are considered as loyal “brothers in arms.” Others within the Golan Heights, territory that Israel captured from Syria within the 1967 Center East conflict, nonetheless maintain Syrian id and have Israeli residency playing cards, not citizenship.
Because the collapse of Mr. al-Assad’s dictatorship in early December, Israel has launched a barrage of airstrikes on Syria which it says are geared toward stopping hostile forces from massing close to its borders. However the strikes have prompted fears amongst Syrians of a protracted Israeli occupation of Syrian territory.
On the identical time, Israel has reached out to the Syrian Druse, a lot of whom reside in villages and cities in southern Syria, as potential companions.
The Druse militias in Syria are underneath stress to combine right into a unified nationwide army that the brand new president is making an attempt to ascertain. Israeli officers have urged that Israel might intervene on behalf of the Druse, together with militarily, in the event that they got here underneath risk from authorities forces.
David Mencer, an Israeli authorities spokesman, said this week that Israel was “ready to defend, if wanted, the Druse inhabitants in Syria from the forces of the brand new regime.” The key Syrian Druse militias flatly rejected the provide.
Israel Katz, the Israeli protection minister, mentioned this week that Israel was making ready to permit some Syrian Druse into Israel to work within the Golan Heights.
The Druse belong to a sect that broke away from Islam roughly 1,000 years in the past, finally changing into a separate faith. Its members, now scattered between Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and northern Israel, have usually discovered themselves on opposing sides of conflicts within the area.
Because the fall of Mr. al-Assad, Israeli troops have marched into Syrian territory, seizing a 155-square-mile buffer zone and bombarding targets throughout the nation. Israeli officers have denounced the brand new authorities in Damascus for its Islamist management and mentioned that their forces will stay in Syrian territory for the foreseeable future.
The brand new Syrian president, Ahmed al-Shara, has referred to as on the worldwide neighborhood to stress Israel to withdraw. He has additionally maintained that his authorities poses no risk to its neighbors or to spiritual minorities just like the Druse as a result of Syrians are weary of conflict.
