Fears for Druze village surrounded by Syrian rebels

Residents of Hader unable to leave their homes and running out of food and water after fighting began on Wednesday.

Druze stand on an old Israeli tank in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to watch the fighting across border near the Syrian village of Hader. Atef Safadi / EPA / June 20, 2015

Majdal Shams, Golan Heights // For almost a week the Syrian Druze village of Hader has been surrounded by extremist rebels, the residents confined to their homes except for small groups of fighters, as their relatives across the border have watched with growing concern.

Artillery and tank fire have hit the village several times, as well as the surrounding hills.

Two children have been killed, the residents have said in phone calls and Whatsapp messages, though the circumstances are not clear. Food and water supplies are running out.

Hader is one of a cluster of villages of the Druze religious minority that have been surrounded by the Al Qaeda-affiliated rebel group Jabhat Al Nusra.

The fighting edged closer to Hader and the buffer zone with Israel on Wednesday after clashes in Jabbata, south of Hader near the Quneitra crossing, and Bait Jin in the north-east

The last Druze village under Syrian government control, Hader came under fire after fierce fighting broke out between the Syrian army and rebel groups on the outskirts.

From a hilltop on the Israeli side of the border, Druze watch through binoculars and keep in touch by phone with their besieged family members less than a kilometre away.

“My heart is racing, it’s very hard standing here and seeing what’s happening to them,” said Amira, 53, wearing the traditional Druze black gown and white head covering, as she looked out over the village she was born in. Her sister and her family are trapped in their house there after the situation escalated.

“I pray for them every day and I message them on Whatsapp and phone them.”

A 20-year-old dentistry student from Haifa who gave his name as Waed balanced a pair of binoculars and a cigarette in one hand and a Druze flag in the other as he stood looking toward Hader.

“I have 12 family members over there including my grandmother and uncles. They can’t leave their houses and food is becoming scarce,” he said.

The only people seen moving in Hader are small groups of Druze fighters defending the community. The Druze have historically fought in the Syrian Arab Army of the Assad regime, but after the civil war broke out Hader’s fighters have stayed home to defend the village.

After president Bashar Al Assad’s forces lost control of the governorate surrounding Hader, the Druze fear their 700,000-strong community, Syria’s third-largest minority, will be persecuted in the same way as Yazidis and Christians have been targeted by ISIL in Iraq. The Sunni rebel groups see the Druze as an offshoot of Shiite Islam and consider them infidels. At least 20 Druze were killed by Al Nusra fighters in Idlib province two weeks ago.

Hamad Awidat, a Druze journalist and broadcaster, said there were 14,000 Druze residents in Hader and about 1,400 of them had weapons to defend themselves.

“Jabhat Al Nusra have two targets, one is to control Hader as a geographic bridge to the Qalamoun fights – they need to give support to the other militant groups who are fighting with [the Lebanese Shiite militia] Hizbollah. They want to use this area to give support with fighters and weapons. This area is strategic because it’s close to the ceasefire line and it’s in the buffer zone, when it’s in the buffer zone the Syrian army can’t attack them.”

Druze in the occupied Golan Heights were separated from their relatives in Syria when Israel seized the area in the Six Day War in 1967. Most refuse to become Israeli citizens and identify themselves as Syrian, unlike those in Israeli towns and cities, who identify as Israelis and serve in the Israeli Defence Forces.

The roughly 170,000 Druze in the occupied Golan Heights, the Galilee and other parts of Israel have called on the government to accept Syrian Druze refugees and intervene with humanitarian and military assistance.

Druze from the Galilee and the occupied Golan united in protest last week to put pressure on prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to intervene in a war Israel has historically kept out of.

Mr Netanyahu said Israel would follow the situation on the border closely.

“My inclination is to take any action that is necessary,” he said.

However, the Israeli Defence Forces said it would “maintain a policy of non-involvement in the Syrian civil war in a need to protect Israeli civilians”.

The Israeli deputy minister for regional affairs, Ayoub Kara, a senior Druze leader, visited Jordan last week to try to negotiate a safe passage for members of his community, and said he would soon do the same in Turkey.

Israeli officials have said Israel may be able to absorb some Syrian Druze refugees whose lives are at risk but no plan has been announced.

On the hill overlooking Hader, Rabia Tafish, a 40-year-old from Mas’ade in the occupied Golan, covered his one-year-old son’s ears against the sound of artillery and tank fire.

Mr Tafish said he had phoned his family in the village, who are trapped in their house.

“There is a siege around them, they are firing on them from all sides,” he said.

“I don’t believe Israel will get involved.”