(26 Aug 2024)
RESTRICTIONS SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Majdal Shams, Israel-controlled Golan Heights – 26 August 2024
1. Wide of Druze town of Majdal Shams
2. Various of Majdal Shams
3. Close of dome of the pilgrimage site for the Druze prophet, Yafouri
4. Various of worker at pilgrimage site
5. Mid of Druze flag waving at a shop opposite the Yafouri shrine with goods listed in Russian, Arabic and Hebrew languages
6. Wide of cars passing shop
7. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Nazih Fakhr al-Deen, shop owner:
“What happened is very difficult and the economy has collapsed. We don’t have any work. And then we had the sudden killing of the children… the situation is so difficult.”
8. Mid of Yafouri shrine
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Nazih Fakhr al-Deen, shop owner:
“No work, nothing. The situation is so complicated. And yesterday it got worse."
Reporter: “Did you feel afraid yesterday?
Al-Deen: ”Always we feel afraid. We will persist, what else can we do?”
10. Wide of Majdal Shams
11. Various of the border fence between Syria and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights
Massade, Israel-controlled Golan Heights – 26 August 2024
12. Wide of Ram Pond and the village of Massade
13. Various of Ren Lebanon restaurant
14. Wide of Ren Lebanon owner, Saher Safadi, UPSOUND (in Arabic): “Look, not one person here.”
15. Wide of empty lunch counter
16. Wide of Safadi opening an empty refrigerator, UPSOUND (in Arabic and English): “Sodas, drinks Coca Cola, nothing. Empty.”
17. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saher Safadi, restaurateur in Masaade:
“Masaade and the Golan Heights and Majdal Shams, we depend on tourism from outside here. Food, drink, agriculture. Unfortunately, since Oct. 7 no tourism has gotten into the Golan Heights and the restaurants are empty. No income. Also the cherry season finished and there is no tourism. Farmers, they depend on tourism for selling what they harvest. People are afraid to come to the Golan Heights.”
18. Mid of photo of Druze religious leaders
19. Various of paper currency left in the restaurant showing the origins of the customers of the once-busy area
20. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saher Safadi, restaurateur in Masaade:
“We hope to live in peace. Always we’ve lived in peace here.”
21. Druze and Israeli flags
STORYLINE:
Tensions persist in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights where Druze residents are facing an economy that has collapsed in the wake of the October 7 attacks and the war in Gaza.
Very few tourists have made their way up to the mountains near the border with Lebanon and Syria, with disastrous effects for hotels, souvenir shops and restaurants that depend on Israeli and international visitors for their income.
Then a new cycle of violence erupted on July 27 when a rocket exploded and killed a dozen Druze children in the town of Majdal Shams, ramping up tensions between Israel, Lebanon and Iran.
Israel vowed to respond, and a pair of strikes on militant leaders in Beirut and Tehran further escalated tensions in a region already on edge.
Hamas said Israel was behind the assassination of its supreme leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran’s capital, although there was no acknowledgement from Israel.
And Israel claimed responsibility for a strike on Fouad Shukur, a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut, that the military said killed him.
On Sunday Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah launched their heaviest exchange of fire after months of strikes and counterstrikes that have raised fears of an all-out war.
By mid-morning, the exchange of fire had ended, with both sides saying they had only aimed at military targets.
But tensions remain high.
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