{"id":259537,"date":"2025-03-15T12:15:10","date_gmt":"2025-03-15T12:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/15\/syrian-druse-pilgrims-pay-rare-visit-to-israel\/"},"modified":"2025-03-15T12:15:10","modified_gmt":"2025-03-15T12:15:10","slug":"syrian-druse-pilgrims-pay-rare-visit-to-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/15\/syrian-druse-pilgrims-pay-rare-visit-to-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"Syrian Druse Pilgrims Pay Rare Visit to Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A delegation of Syrian Druse made a rare visit to Israel over the weekend for a pilgrimage to a shrine as Israel seeks to extend its influence inside Syria after the fall of the dictator Bashar al-Assad.<\/p>\n

Both Israel and Syria have sizable minorities who belong to the Druse sect \u2014 an Arabic-speaking religious minority scattered across the Levant region. But with Israel and Syria formally at war for decades, Syrian Druse<\/a> were generally unable to enter Israel to visit sites holy to their faith.<\/p>\n

Sheikh Muwafaq Tarif, a Druse leader in Israel who helped organize the two-day visit, said roughly 100 people arrived on Friday in a convoy from Syrian territory. They also visited the Tomb of the Prophet Shuaib in the northern Galilee region of Israel, a site deeply revered in their faith.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter being cut off for decades, to see our people arriving in our country \u2014 it\u2019s a moment of great joy,\u201d said Mr. Tarif, adding that he knew most of the visitors only from phone conversations, given the great difficulty of traveling between the two countries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n