600 Syrian Druze clerics to visit Israel on Friday for religious purposes

By Abdel Raouf Arnaout and Mohammad Sio

JERUSALEM / ISTANBUL (AA) – Israel will allow entry to 600 Syrian Druze clerics into the country on Friday, Israeli media said on Thursday.

Defense Minister Israel Katz approved the move to allow the Druze clerics to visit the tomb of Prophet Jethro in the Lower Galilee in northern Israel, the Walla news website reported.

Friday’s visit marks the second after a similar trip by a delegation of around 100 Syrian Druze members in March, the first in more than five decades.

It remains unclear if the delegation will hold meetings with the Israeli government or military officials.

There has been no official response from Syrian authorities or Druze leaders in Syria regarding the visit.

Israel’s Druze population, estimated at 150,000, mostly holds Israeli citizenship and serves in the military, unlike the 23,000 Druze in Syria’s Golan Heights, who largely reject Israeli citizenship and identify themselves as Syrian nationals.

Israel captured most of the Golan Heights in 1967, annexing it in 1981, a move recognized only by the US.

Since December 2024, Israel has occupied Syria’s demilitarized buffer zone following the ouster of the Bashar al-Assad regime, ending the 1974 disengagement agreement without a withdrawal timeline.

Syria’s new administration, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, has condemned Israel’s actions as violations of sovereignty and called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

While Syria emphasizes equal protection for all communities, including the Druze, who constitute about 3% of its population and are concentrated in Suwayda, Israel has claimed that Druze in Syria face attacks, a narrative Damascus views as a pretext for territorial expansion.

Assad, who ruled Syria for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia in December, ending the Baath Party’s decades-long rule that began in 1963.