Druze protesters at Majdal Shams (file)
Druze protesters at Majdal Shams (file)Israel news photo: Flash 90

Hundreds of Druze residents of the Golan Heights demonstrated in Majdal Shams Friday, in support of Syrian president Bashar Assad, and his “heroic” military against what demostrators termed “terrorists.”

Syrian TV reported about the demonstration from Majdal Shams. In the course of the event, pro-Assad slogans were chanted, the Syrian anthem was played, Syrian flags were held high and the speakers presented Syria as their homeland, while portraying the civil war against Assad as a plot that serves the “Zionists.”

There are voices within the Israeli Druze community in the Golan – and also among Israel's Arabs – that say they support Assad, because of his regime's role in the anti-Israel struggle. These voices fear that the civil war will weaken the Arab front against Israel.

Most Druze outside the Golan, however, do not share such anti-Israel sentiments, with many of them serving in the IDF and participating fully in Israeli life.