Hundreds of Druze residents of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights headed to Syria on a pilgrimage on Thursday, crossing the demarcation line with the help of the international Red Cross. In a rare move, 43 women were to join the almost 500 men, all religious elders, who planned to spend several days attending the annual event, the International Committee of the Red Cross said. By mid-morning, about half the men had crossed the demarcation line at Quneitra, said ICRC spokeswoman Nadia Dibsy. The Quneitra crossing opens infrequently, notably for the annual pilgrimage and for weddings between Druze from opposite sides of the armistice line.
More than 18,000 Syrians, mostly Druze, are left from the Golan's original population of 150,000. The vast majority of the Druze in the Golan have refused to take Israeli citizenship. Followers of a breakaway sect of Islam concentrated in Israel, Syria, and Lebanon, the Druze are not considered Muslims by most of the Islamic world.