Israel's Defence Ministry said on Sunday it would let Syrian Druze workers enter the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syrian territory, without saying when the government would start issuing permits.
Many Syrian Druze were loyal to deposed President Bashar al-Assad, and a large number of families have relatives living in the Golan Heights © Mena Today
Israel's Defence Ministry said on Sunday it would let Syrian Druze workers enter the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syrian territory, without saying when the government would start issuing permits.
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.
Israel captured most of the strategic plateau from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed it in 1981. The U.S. views it as Israeli territory, but most countries classify it as occupied.
Many Syrian Druze were loyal to deposed President Bashar al-Assad, and a large number of families have relatives living in the Golan Heights.
The Israeli government has said Syria's new leadership is a threat to Israel and has pledged to help protect minorities in Syria, including the Druze.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on Syria's strategic weapons stockpiles and military infrastructure, saying such operations seek to prevent them from being used by rebel groups that drove Assad from power, some of which grew from movements linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.
Reporting by Emily Rose
Syria's leader vowed on Sunday to hunt down the perpetrators of violent clashes pitting loyalists of deposed President Bashar al-Assad against the country's new Islamist rulers and said he would hold to account anyone who overstepped their authority.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has urged European nations to “stop granting legitimacy” to Syria’s transitional government, following a series of massacres that have claimed hundreds of civilian lives.
Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, arrived in Israel on Sunday for high-level meetings with Israeli officials as part of ongoing efforts to enhance security and stability along the Blue Line, the demarcation between Israel and Lebanon.
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