The small Syrian population that has remained steadfast in the Golan Heights continues to be loyal to Damascus and the Syrian motherland, although 50 years have passed since the Israeli occupation and despite the unilateral Israeli decision to annex the Golan Heights to Israel in 1981.

Out of 130,000 Syrians living and farming the Golan Heights before 1967, 25,000 Syrian Druze continue to live in about 5% of the occupied Syrian territory. Roughly 23,000 Jewish settlers have been living in some 34 settlements in the Golan Heights, in violation of international law.

Syrians in five Golan Heights villages remained on their land when Israel conquered the Golan Heights. The residents of four of these villages — namely Majdal Shams, Bukata, Masada and Ein Qinya — are Druze, which is a secretive offshoot of Islam, mainly based in Syria, Lebanon and Palestine. The fifth village, which is the village of Ghajar, is very close to Lebanon’s border and its residents are Muslim.

While Israeli Druze are subject to compulsory enlistment in the Israeli army, since their religious leaders agreed in 1956 that their sons serve in the Israeli army, Druze in the Golan Heights fully reject Israel and its occupation and are fiercely attached to their Syrian Arab nationality.