The Golan Heights is home to 24,000 Druze, an Arab minority who practice an offshoot of Islam and also live in Israel, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. Israel captured most of the strategic plateau from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed it in 1981. The U.S. views it as Israeli territory, but most countries classify it as occupied.

Israel said on Monday that it was willing to defend Syria's Druze community following days of violence in Syria that a war monitor said led to mass killings of another religious minority. The violence began last week between fighters linked to Syria's new government and forces loyal to ousted president Bashar al-Assad.

The Syrian Druze were a minority in the Assad era who mostly kept to themselves, with some past positive history with Israel.

Announcement comes as Israeli politicians lambast Syrian transitional government for reported mass killings, urge European states to 'wake up' and stop granting regime legitimacy

Israel would issue work permits for Druze citizens of Syria to work in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced. The move would be made “soon,” Katz said in a statement,

Israel’s Defense Ministry announced on Sunday that it will permit Syrian Druze workers to enter the disputed Golan Heights territory from Syria, although no timeline has been provided for when permits will start being issued.

After a report first published in i24NEWS, Israel Katz confirmed that Druze would be allowed to enter Israel for work • An aid package will also go to Druze and Circassian communities in Israel

Members of the small religious sect find themselves caught between two forces that many of them distrust: the new, Islamist-led government in Damascus and Syria’s hostile neighbor, Israel, which has used the plight of the Druze as a pretext to intervene in the country.

The post Katz says Israel will soon allow Syrian Druze to enter Israel for work in the Golan Heights appeared first on The Times of Israel.

Israel is preparing to "soon" allow Syrian Druze to work in the Golan Heights, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday."We will soon allow Druze workers from Syria to work in the Golan Heights communities in Israel,