(14 Mar 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nabi Shuaib shrine compound, Northern Israel – 14 March 2025
++NIGHT SHOTS++
1. Various of Druze clerics, who crossed from Syria to Israel earlier on Friday, leaving bus and being welcomed by members of the Israeli and Golan Heights Druze community at the Nabi Shuaib shrine compound
2. Druze clerics from Syria waving and walking among members of the Israeli and the Golan Heights Druze community welcoming them
3. Various of people shooting in the air in celebration
4. Various of Druze clerics who crossed from Syria being welcomed by the Druze from Israel and the Golan Heights
5. Druze cleric (left) who crossed from Syria to Israel earlier in the day, kissing an Israeli soldier at the Nabi Shuaib shrine compound
6. Druze cleric being carried by others on their shoulders
7. Various of Druze clerics who crossed from Syria to Israel at the Nabi Shuaib shrine compound
STORYLINE:
Druze clerics who crossed from Syria early on Friday, were welcomed by members of the Israeli Druze community at the Nabi Shuaib shrine compound, in northern Israel.
The elderly were embraced and carried on shoulders while others shot their guns into the night sky in celebration.
Dozens of clerics and others from Syria’s minority Druze community crossed into the Israeli-controlled side of the Golan Heights on Friday for the first time in decades and later moved to visit the shrine compound.
The nearly 100 Syrian Druze crossed the heavily-fortified border area in three buses, escorted by members of the Israeli military to visit a religious shrine on the Israeli side of the border.
The rare visit comes three months after the end of a five-decade grip on power by the Assad family in Syria. Israel has said it is ready to protect the Druze of Syria if they come under attack by the country’s new rulers.
Many Druze have rejected Israel’s overtures, and critics accuse Israel of trying to weaken and divide Syria following the overthrow of President Bashar Assad.
The Druze is one of the Middle East’s most insular religious sect, beginning as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. Most Druze religious practices are shrouded in secrecy, with outsiders not allowed to convert.
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.
Crossing from Syria into Israeli-controlled territory was restricted in the past. The religious leadership of the Druze sect in Lebanon have urged clerics not to visit Israel, saying those who do it will be violating its orders.
The Druze delegation from Syria is scheduled to meet with the religious leader of the sect in Israel, Mowafaq Tarif, to discuss the conditions for the Druze of Syria.
On Sunday, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel will allow Druze from Syria to enter the country for work although it is not clear when it will start.
AP Video by Leo Correa
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