Nestled in the Golan Heights, the Druze communities that came under Israeli control in 1967 are torn between the hope of reuniting with their loved ones on the other side of the border and anxiety over an uncertain future following the overthrow of the Assad regime.
Dolan Abu Saleh, the mayor of the largest of the four towns, Majdal Shams, referred to Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s fall as “a joy of humanity.”
“Most Druze in the Golan stood with the people of Syria. There was loyalty to the Assad regime from a small segment. But there is no doubt that the fall of Assad, a dictator and murderer, will be talked about and written about in the future,” he said last Thursday.
Abu Saleh said that Majdal Shams is a town of 12,000 highly educated people, nearly half of whom hold Israeli citizenship, with enormous potential, especially in the tourism sector. The mayor is looking for ways to make his locality a prime ski village and recreational center.
“The first challenge is the security challenge resulting from the war and [Hamas’s] brutal terrorist attack that affected not just the south, but really the entire country on Oct. 7, [2023],” Abu Saleh told JNS. “It started for us when [Iranian terror proxy] Hezbollah joined the fight. We are in a border triangle, at Israel’s borders with Syria and Lebanon.”
Despite Israel’s war with Hezbollah that led to a ceasefire with Lebanon on Nov. 27, the residents of Majdal Shams never considered leaving their town.
“We heard impacts [of Hezbollah projectiles] in open areas and the noise of [IDF] retaliation. There were security incidents and for sure it was not pleasant. However, this is our mindset: We don’t leave our land. We are here to stay,” Abu Saleh said.
A Hezbollah massacre of children
Speaking of the killing of 12 children and wounding of at least 42 others by a Hezbollah rocket that struck a Majdal Shams soccer field on July 27, Abu Saleh said there is nothing as hard as seeing innocents getting hurt.
“I was there a few minutes after the missile fell. The sight of bodies and body parts of children that I knew from different circles made me feel powerless,” he said. “The residents were in shock, especially the parents who rushed there and saw awful things. It’s a great challenge. We still need to deal with the anxiety and the trauma.”
Abu Saleh cited the wisdom and maturity with which the residents reacted to the tragedy, even those who were closely affected.
“Everyone in Majdal Shams spoke about peace. They said they did not want another mother to cry the way they cried,” he said. “What helped the population to accept this disaster is their intelligence. I am very proud of the residents who took this with maturity, responsibility and love, and with no wish for revenge.”
Speaking of the Israeli Defense Force’s deployment east of the border with Syria, Abu Saleh said it creates a security belt that is important for the towns of the Golan.
“Whether it will become permanent depends on the new regime in Syria, the direction it will take and the agenda it will push. If we see that there is potential for peace and know with certainty that another catastrophe like October 7 will not happen, then the importance of the buffer will be rethought,” he said. However, “if we identify a potential for terrorist factions to take over, there is no doubt that there will be a need for this buffer to become permanent.”
Abu Saleh added, “There is an opportunity for both sides to push an agenda for a free and democratic Syria with respect for all, and for economic ties between Israel and Syria.”
The older Druze generation in the Golan Heights has nearly all declined Israeli citizenship, maintaining their identity as Syrians living under “occupation.” However, Abu Saleh noted that more Druze have applied for Israeli citizenship since the fall of Assad.
“The State of Israel proved that it knows how to handle the threats and fight on many fronts for its citizens and residents,” he said. “The security belt brought back discussions around the creation of an independent Druze state [in Syria]. People want to ensure that they have [Israeli] citizenship in case there is something concrete. Most Druze do not want their own state and are loyal to the country they live in,” he added.
The future of Syria, and Israel
Abu Saleh believes Syria will be divided “into either two or three territories. There is potential for Syria to be unified, but practically there are a lot of forces that come with their own agenda. I think in some places there will be Sunnis, in some places Kurds, and there will be mixed areas as well.”
Nabih al-Halabi, a singer, environmental expert and community services specialist who holds Israeli permanent residency, said that he had never been to Syria and did not hold Syrian citizenship. However, “we kept the Syrian part of our identity because we believed that one day peace would come and we’d go back to being Syrian.”
Speaking with JNS in the Druze town of Buq’ata, south of Majdal Shams, al-Halabi said, “This is the conflict we live with, being part Israeli, part Syrian. Now, I believe we will use this experience to be the bridge of peace between our two communities.”
For al-Halabi, the fall of Assad will bring the Druze of the Golan closer to Syria.
“I think this will be the new age of Syria. The Syrians will not accept another dictatorship. There is hope that Syria will be stable and become a democratic regime. In the next few months, there will be elections and the message to the Israeli people will be one of peace,” he said.
“For us, as Druze in the Golan Heights, the message will be to prepare ourselves to be closer to the Syrians,” he continued. “I have many Israeli friends and we started to speak about having breakfast in Tel Aviv and dinner in Damascus.”
A unified Syria?
Lt. Col. (res.) Stéphane Cohen, head of the OSINT (open source intelligence) Department at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS)’s Data Analytics Center in Tel Aviv, believes unifying Syria will be a challenge.
“For many years, different parties tried to unify Syria, through Ba’athism or Syrian nationalism,” Cohen told JNS. “There are the Kurds on the eastern side of the Euphrates River, the Alawites on the coast, the Druze in the south and the Sunni majority who control Hama, Aleppo and a part of Damascus. It will be difficult for [rebel alliance leader Abu Mohammad] al-Julani to unify Syrians in one state.”
Cohen noted the evolution of al-Julani’s political movement, which, while still anchored in Sunni Islamism, has rebranded itself as a modernizing force.
“Will there be elections in Syria and will they succeed to write a new constitution? And what will that constitution be like?” he asked.
Finally, Cohen said, if the future government does not assert control over the entire territory, there is a risk of a resurgence of groups such as Islamic State and maybe even pro-Iranian groups.