Occupied Jerusalem — Police arrested seven Druze residents of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday on suspicion of rioting in support for fellow Druze under militant attack on the Syrian-controlled side of the armistice line.
Dozens of Druze had gathered at the armistice line on Friday as the Syrian government-controlled village of Hader on the other side came under attack by fighters of the country’s former Al Qaida affiliate.
Seven suspects from the Druze villages of Majdal Shams and Ein Qiniya were arrested, two of them minors.
A court in the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona remanded the five adult suspects in custody until November 12. The court was yet to rule on a police request to remand the two minors.
The Friday attack on Hader began with a suicide bomber blowing up a car and killing nine people.
The outcry prompted the Israeli army to issue a rare statement pledging to “prevent Hader from being harmed or occupied”.
The occupation army had attempted to seal off the armistice line near Hader to prevent Druze crossing over to the village to help defend it but a small number managed to get through before being caught and returned.
Approximately 20,000 Druze live in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Many have family ties with Druze in Syrian regime-controlled territory.
Hader lies in Syria’s Quneitra province, around 70 per cent of which is held by Hayat Tahrir Al Sham or other rebel groups while the government controls the remaining 30 per cent, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Israel seized 1,200 square kilometres (460 square miles) of the Golan Heights from Syria in the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community.
