A delegation of Syrian Druse made a uncommon journey to Israel this week and visited a shrine revered by the religion as Israel seeks to increase its affect inside Syria after the autumn of the dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Each Israel and Syria have sizable communities of Druse — an Arabic-speaking spiritual minority scattered throughout the Levant area. However with the 2 international locations formally at warfare 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, mentioned roughly 100 folks arrived on Friday in a convoy from Syrian territory. They visited the Tomb of the Prophet Shuaib within the northern Galilee area of Israel, a web site holy to the sect.
“After being lower off for many years, to see our folks arriving in our nation — it’s a second of nice pleasure,” mentioned Mr. Tarif, including that he knew many of the guests solely from cellphone conversations due to the good issue of touring between the 2 international locations.
Oren Marmorstein, a spokesman for the Israeli overseas ministry, wrote on social media that the pilgrimage was the primary of its sort in a long time.
In Israel, many Druse maintain Israeli passports, serve within the nationwide navy and are seen as loyal “brothers in arms.” Different Druse who reside within the Golan Heights, territory that Israel captured from Syria within the 1967 Center East warfare and later annexed, nonetheless think about themselves Syrian and have a tendency to have Israeli residency playing cards, however 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 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 below stress to combine right into a unified nationwide navy that the brand new president is attempting to ascertain. Israeli officers have recommended that Israel may intervene on behalf of the Druse, together with militarily, in the event that they got here below menace from authorities forces.
David Mencer, an Israeli authorities spokesman, mentioned this week that Israel was “ready to defend, if wanted, the Druse inhabitants in Syria from the forces of the brand new regime.” The main Syrian Druse militias flatly rejected the supply.
Israel Katz, the Israeli protection minister, mentioned this week that Israel was getting ready to permit some Syrian Druse into Israeli-controlled territory 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 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 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 group to stress Israel to withdraw. He has additionally maintained that his authorities poses no menace to its neighbors or to spiritual minorities just like the Druse, as a result of Syrians are weary of warfare.
