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Majdal Shams

After a three-year closure due to war, Israel's northernmost community of Metula celebrates a first day of school, September 1, 2026. (courtesy)
Reporter's notebook
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'We have to rebuild the community from scratch'
‘That’s victory’: In battle-scarred Metula, a reopened school offers hope on the border
By Diana Bletter
School is again in session in Israel's northernmost community, after 65% of its residents came back to live amid telltale signs of war. It was a celebration three years in the making
Israeli security and rescue forces at the scene where a missile fired from Lebanon toward Israel caused damage in Kiryat Shmona, March 24, 2026. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)
March 29, 2026, 2:20 pm
Daily Briefing Mar. 29 – Northerners feel grim amid war but firm on need to defeat Hezbollah
Reporters Diana Bletter and Sue Surkes discuss sense of isolation in Kiryat Shmona and Haifa, trauma help for Arab Israelis, and hospitals’ efforts to treat patients underground
By Jessica Steinberg, Sue Surkes and Diana Bletter
Syrian government security forces block Bedouin fighters, foreground, from entering Sweida province, in Busra al-Harir village, southern Syria, July 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
March 27, 2026, 5:02 pm
Scathing UN report demands Syria probe abuses during clashes with Druze; 1,700 were killed
Investigators find ‘no indication’ that Damascus looked into human rights violations committed by forces, detail ‘widespread looting, systematic burning’ against Druze civilians
By Kareem Chehayeb
In this undated photo, Arab women from northern Israel take part in a resilience building activity run by Mashabim. (Mashabim)
March 25, 2026, 8:19 am
Facing violence on all fronts, Arab Israelis are unprecedentedly open to mental health help
After 18 months of expanded activity in Arabic-speaking towns, the Community Stress Prevention Center in northern Israel starts to see stigmas breaking down, uptick in calls
By Sue Surkes
Illustrative: Members of the Israeli Druze community arrive to attend a celebration at the holy tomb of Nabi Shoaib near Tiberias in northern Israel on April 25, 2018. (Photo by JALAA MAREY / AFP)
March 15, 2026, 8:03 am
After years of hesitation, more Druze of the Golan Heights seek Israeli citizenship
Spurred by a deadly Hezbollah rocket and the fall of the Assad regime, northern Golan residents abandon historic ties to Syria and look to strengthen their Israeli identity
By Tal Schneider
A Syrian Druze woman bids farewell to Druze relatives and friends from Israel before crossing back into Syria at the Israeli-Syrian border, in the Golan Heights town of Majdal Shams, July 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
July 25, 2025, 1:32 am
In Druze town of Majdal Shams, residents mourn one tragedy while fearing another
As hundreds pushed through the security fence separating the Israeli Golan Heights from Syria, locals fleetingly reunited with long-lost relatives threatened by sectarian violence
By Deborah Danan
Druze wait near the border fence in the Golan Heights village of Majdal Shams, as Syrian Druze who had crossed over the day before cross back to return to Syria, on July 17, 2025. (Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
July 17, 2025, 4:54 pm
IDF says dozens of Druze from Israel still remain in Syria after rushing border
Army says there were no further crossings overnight, is working to patch up holes in fence; Kurdish official urges Sharaa to rethink approach to minorities
By Emanuel Fabian, Nurit Yohanan and AFP
A Syrian Druze man who just crossed into Israel, in Majdal Shams on July 17, 2025. (Diana Bletter/Times of Israel)
July 17, 2025, 4:53 pm
Hailing Israel as protector, Israel’s Druze reunite with relatives along the Syrian border
After violence broke out in Druze-majority Sweida, 1,000 Israeli Druze burst through the fence into Syria. Most have returned, bringing a sense of relief that the IDF joined the fray
By Diana Bletter
Israeli troops use tear gas to disperse the crowds as Druze attempt to cross the Syrian border on the Golan Heights near Majdal Shams on July 16, 2025 (Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
July 16, 2025, 5:19 pm
Border chaos as 1,000 Druze breach frontier into Syria; heavy IDF strikes hit Damascus
IDF attempts to stop Syrian Druze from entering Israel; death toll in Syrian regime attacks on Sweida nears 250; IDF airstrikes hit Syrian general staff HQ, near presidential palace, army convoys
By Emanuel Fabian, Nurit Yohanan, Agencies and ToI Staff
'Speeches Against Despair' will be performed at the Israel Festival on July 3, 2025 with actor Guri Alfi and Eli Haviv, actress Noa Koler, musician Noga Erez, actor Norman Issa, actress Maya Landsmann and others (Credit: Shir Greenblatt)
June 7, 2025, 5:32 am
Reflecting the times, Israel Festival to be held in north and south, as well as Jerusalem
64th edition of annual cultural event focuses on performances that reflect the ongoing war; no visiting performers in festival that used to host international participants
By Jessica Steinberg
Druze clerics greet each other as they await visiting counterparts from Syria in a bus through a border barrier guarded by Israeli soldiers, near the village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, on April 25, 2025. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
May 14, 2025, 12:36 pm
‘Maybe God put Druze in Israel to save the Druze there’: Minority fights for Syrian cousins
For the 150,000-strong member Druze community, attacks against their brethren across the border cause concern and a commitment to strengthen their rights as Israeli citizens
By Diana Bletter
Residents in the Israeli Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights celebrate on December 9, 2024, after Islamist-led rebels declared that they had taken the Syrian capital in a lightning offensive, sending President Bashar al-Assad fleeing and ending five decades of Baath rule in Syria. (Menahem Kahana / AFP)
December 11, 2024, 1:37 pm
Daily Briefing Dec. 11: Day 432 – ToI reports from a Druze village on Syria’s border
Reporter Diana Bletter on the complicated identities of Israeli-born Druze as they hope to see loved ones in Syria soon; legal reporter Jeremy Sharon on the PM’s first day at court
By Amanda Borschel-Dan, Jeremy Sharon and Diana Bletter
A boy rides past the border fence between Syria and Israel at Majdal Shams on December 9, 2024. (Diana Bletter/Times of Israel)
December 11, 2024, 10:08 am
On Syrian border in war-struck Majdal Shams, Assad’s fall sparks hope for Israel’s Druze
While some Golan Heights residents dream of seeing their relatives in Syria again, others express ‘complicated’ emotions, reconsidering their identity and where they belong
By Diana Bletter
Members of the Druze community attend a funeral in the Druze village of Maghar, on September 20, 2024. (Michael Giladi/Flash90)
November 20, 2024, 2:35 pm
New curriculum to highlight Druze community and its ties to the state, ministry says
Announcement of program for middle school students comes days after the Jewish Agency elected a first Druze representative to its Board of Governors
By Gavriel Fiske
Nechama Shaina Langer, center, organizer of a healing day retreat in Majdal Shams. From left, Chayals Angels founder Tasha Cohen; Megan Sellway; Naela Fakher Eldin, mother of Alma Fakher Eldin, who was killed in the July 27 Hezbollah attack; and Naela's mother, Adele Abu Jabal on September 13, 2024. (Diana Bletter/The Times of Israel)
September 17, 2024, 8:21 am
Women travel to Majdal Shams to help mothers of children killed in Hezbollah attack
Aware of the need for mental health support in the Druze town that lost 12 children, volunteers cross a cultural divide, offering alternative treatments to ease grief
By Diana Bletter
Rescue personnel evacuate an Israeli man who was seriously injured when a Hezbollah anti-tank missile hit Kfar Yuval in the Upper Galilee, September 1, 2024. (Ayal Margolin/Flahs90)
September 2, 2024, 3:59 am
Three wounded by Hezbollah anti-tank missile; 30 rockets fired at north on Sunday
IDF strikes targets in Lebanon; Defense Minister Gallant vows the north’s suffering ‘won’t be in vain’ as he visits Majdal Shams, where Hezbollah rocket killed 12 children in July
By Emanuel Fabian
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