Druze clerics from Syria visit Israel for the first time for religious pilgrimage [Getty]
A delegation of Syrian Druze clerics headed to Israel Friday for the first such pilgrimage since Israel’s creation in 1948.
Around 60 clerics gathered near the village of Hader, located in the demilitarised buffer zone on the Golan Heights in Syria, under the gaze of Israeli soldiers recently deployed to the area, an AFP correspondent in southern Syria said.
Two buses awaited their arrival on the Israeli side, where, according to a source close to the delegation, they will visit the Tomb of Nabi Shuaib in the Galilee, one of the most important figures in the Druze faith.
They will also meet the spiritual leader of the Druze community in Israel, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif.
The pilgrims were not authorised to speak with journalists, nor would they be allowed to take their mobile phones, another source close to the clerics said.
Their visit, which follows an invitation from the Druze community in Israel, has been met with opposition among members of the religious minority in Syria.
The Druze, who practise an esoteric monotheistic faith, are divided between Syria, Israel, Lebanon and the Golan Heights.
They account for about three percent of Syria’s population and are heavily concentrated in the southern province of Sweida.
Following the ouster of long-time Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December, Israel sent troops into the Golan, occupied since 1967 and annexed in 1981.
Israel’s Druze have also sent food aid to their Syria counterparts twice through the land border, with the latest delivery arriving Wednesday, according to one of the sources from the community.
In early March, following a deadly clash between government-linked forces and Druze fighters in the suburbs of Damascus, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened military action in Syria.
A defence ministry statement quoted Katz as saying his country would not allow Syria’s new rulers “to harm the Druze”.
Druze leaders immediately rejected Katz’s warning and declared their loyalty to a united Syria.
Having largely remained on the sidelines of Syria’s 13-year civil war, Druze forces focused on defending their territory from attacks and largely avoided conscription into the Syrian armed forces.
Druze representatives are currently in negotiations with Syria’s new leaders for a deal that would see the integration of their armed groups in the country’s security forces.
