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 spiritual minority scattered throughout the Levant area. However with Israel and Syria formally at battle for many years, Syrian Druse had been usually unable to enter Israel to go to websites holy to their religion.
Sheikh Muwafaq Tarif, a Druse chief in Israel who helped arrange the two-day go to, stated 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 minimize off for many years, to see our individuals arriving in our nation — it’s a second of nice pleasure,” stated Mr. Tarif, including that he knew a lot of the guests solely from telephone conversations, given the nice issue of touring between the 2 nations.
In Israel, many Druse maintain Israeli passports, serve within the nationwide navy and are seen as loyal “brothers in arms.” Others within the Golan Heights, territory that Israel captured from Syria within the 1967 Center East battle, nonetheless maintain Syrian identification and have Israeli residency playing cards, not citizenship.
For the reason that collapse of Mr. al-Assad’s dictatorship in early December, Israel has launched a barrage of airstrikes on Syria which it says are aimed 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 similar time, Israel has reached out to the Syrian Druse, lots of whom stay in villages and cities in southern Syria, as potential companions.
The Druse militias in Syria are underneath strain to combine right into a unified nationwide navy that the brand new president is attempting to determine. Israeli officers have instructed that Israel might intervene on behalf of the Druse, together with militarily, in the event that they got here underneath menace from authorities forces.
David Mencer, an Israeli authorities spokesman, stated this week that Israel was “ready to defend, if wanted, the Druse inhabitants in Syria from the forces of the brand new regime.” The foremost Syrian Druse militias flatly rejected the provide.
Israel Katz, the Israeli protection minister, stated this week that Israel was getting 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, in the end turning into a separate faith. Its members, now scattered between Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and northern Israel, have typically discovered themselves on opposing sides of conflicts within the area.
For the reason that 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 stated 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 strain Israel to withdraw. He has additionally maintained that his authorities poses no menace to its neighbors or to non secular minorities just like the Druse as a result of Syrians are weary of battle.