In August, al Nusra Front jihadists took control of Syria’s side of the border crossing with Israel and kidnapped over 40 United Nations peacekeepers — who have since been released.
But al Nusra Front, an al Qaeda-affiliate, isn’t Israel’s only threat from Syria. President Bashar al-Assad’s military, in a possible effort to bait Israel into its civil war to shore up Arab sympathies, has been lobbing mortars across the border. Just a few weeks ago, the Israeli military shot down a Syrian plane flying over the Golan Heights — the first time it has done so since the 1980s.
Videos by VICE
In part four of a five-part series, VICE News correspondent Simon Ostrovsky meets the group caught in the middle of the conflict across the border — the Druze of the Majdal Shams village.
Read “Video Shows Israeli Drone Reportedly Downed in Syria”
Read “Why Saudi Arabia is Picking Up Lebanon’s $3 Billion Weapons Tab”
Read “New Evidence Suggests Israel Is Helping Syrian Rebels in the Golan Heights”
Read “Syria and Iran Condemn Israeli Airstrikes Near Damascus”
