Over half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel and the Golan Heights, a rocky plateau seized from Syria by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel’s 1981 annexation of the area is recognized only by the United States, with the rest of the world considering it occupied Syrian territory.

It's the first time in five decades that Druze leaders have crossed from Syria into Israeli-controlled territory to visit Druze religious sites and communities here. The buffer zo

The Golan Heights is home to 24,000 Druze, an Arab minority who practice an offshoot of Islam and also live in Israel, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

Dozens of Syrian Druze clerics crossed into Israel on Friday for their community’s first pilgrimage to a revered shrine since Israel’s creation in 1948, The Times of Israel reported. On board three buses escorted by military vehicles,

Syrian Druze members expected to visit religious sites in occupied Golan Heights, northern Israel, according to Israeli public broadcaster KAN - Anadolu Ajansı

A group of around 100 senior figures from Syria's Druze are expected to visit the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Friday, members of the community said, in a further sign of Israel's support for the minority group.

People gather on the day Israeli Druze leader Sheik Mowafaq Tarif and around 100 Syrian Druze religious elders, in the first Druze delegation from Syria just after 1973 war, visit the Nabi Shuayb Shrine, a holy place for the Druze community, in northern Israel March 14, 2025. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

Announcement comes as Israeli politicians lambast Syrian transitional government for reported mass killings, urge European states to 'wake up' and stop granting regime legitimacy

For the first time in decades, Syrian Druze clerics have crossed the armistice line into the Golan Heights for a historic pilgrimage. The rare visit was met with celebrations as local Druze gathered,