Majdal Shams, where the Druze live, sits anxiously on the edge of war Occupied Golan Heights News

Located in the high mountains of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Majdal Shams is home to members of the Druze, one of the Middle East’s most isolated religious communities.

With roots in Ismailism, an offshoot of Shiite Islam dating back to the 10th century, the roughly one million-strong minority is spread across Syria, Lebanon, Israel and the Golan Heights.

Although Israeli citizenship is open to Druze in the Golan Heights, most have chosen not to accept it while acting as Syrian Druze under Israeli occupation. Many families in Majdal Shams have relatives in Syria, separated by the Alpha Line and the buffer zone that separates the occupied Golan from Syria.

About 25,000 people live in the Golan Heights, Syria’s rocky plateau, parts of which Israel occupied in the 1967 war and began building settlements almost immediately. These settlements are illegal under international law.

There are currently about 25,000 Israeli settlers there, and the Israeli government recently announced plans to invest millions to double that number.

A week and a half ago, when Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown, people flocked to the streets of Majdal Shams to celebrate.

However, his ouster was seen as an opportunity by Israel, which bombed Syria heavily – in self-defense – and launched attacks across the Alpha Line into the United Nations-controlled buffer zone.

Evidence of the 1967 war remains in Majdal Shams with trenches and abandoned tanks. A barbed-wire security fence now runs through the outskirts of the city and a field from the nearby Alpha Line.