(17 Jul 2025)
RESTRICTIONS SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Golan Heights – 17 July 2025
1. Members of the Druze community standing at border with Syria
2. Members of the Druze community crossing to buffer zone with Syria
3. Wide of people at border
4. Various of people crossing through hole in fence
5. Wide of people at border, vehicles driving by
6. People walking after crossing
7. Various of people by border, some crossing through hole in fence
8. Wide of border
STORYLINE:
Members of the Druze community in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights were seen gathered at the border with Syria and crossing into the buffer zone on Thursday morning.
It comes as Syrian government officials and leaders in the Druze religious minority announced a renewed ceasefire Wednesday after days of clashes that have threatened to unravel the country’s postwar political transition and drawn military intervention by powerful neighbor Israel.
The announcement came after Israel launched rare airstrikes in the heart of Damascus, an escalation in a campaign that it said was intended to defend the Druze and push Islamic militants away from its border.
The Druze form a substantial community in Israel as well as in Syria and are seen in Israel as a loyal minority, often serving in the military.
The escalation in Syria began with tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks between local Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze armed factions in the southern province of Sweida.
Government forces that intervened to restore order clashed with the Druze militias, but also in some cases attacked civilians.
The violence appeared to be the most serious threat yet to efforts by Syria’s new rulers to consolidate control of the country after a rebel offensive led by Islamist insurgent groups ousted longtime despotic leader Bashar Assad in December, ending a nearly 14-year civil war.
Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, in footage on state television early Thursday, called the Druze an integral part of Syria and denounced Israel’s actions as sowing division.
The Druze religious sect began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam.
More than half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria.
Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981.
Druze in the Golan Heights have been gathering along the border fence to protest the violence against Druze in Syria.
AP video shot by Fernanda Pesce
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