The Golan Heights is a plateau that Israel seized from Syria during the Six-Day War in 1967 before formally annexing it in 1981. It shares a border with Jordan and Lebanon. The Israeli-occupied part of the region is separated from Syria by a buffer zone supported by the United Nations.
The Golan Heights is considered to be occupied territory under international law and UN Security Council resolutions, and Syria continues to demand it be returned. The area has often been a flashpoint, most recently in 2019 when former President Donald Trump said the US would recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights – a move that overturned years of policy and worsened tensions with Syria.
Israel sees the Golan Heights as key to its national security interests and says it needs to control the region to fend off threats from Syria and Iranian proxy groups there.
The Druze are an Arab sect of roughly one million people who primarily live in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. The group practices an offshoot of Islam that permits no converts – either to or from the religion – and no intermarriage.
More than 20,000 Druze live in the Golan Heights. Most of them identify as Syrian and rejected an offer of Israeli citizenship when Israel seized the region in 1967. None of the Druze killed in Saturday’s attack on the soccer field held Israeli citizenship, the Regional Council of Majdal Shams told.
