Tickets are sold out for a tour in bulletproof buses with military escort visiting expanded Israel-occupied territories in Lebanon and Syria – just in time for the Passover holiday. Tourists sign up at their own risk.
Israel’s military is organizing hiking tours for civilians in the newly occupied Syrian territory during the Passover holiday.. The twice-daily tours in the contested Golan Heights will run for a week this Sunday. Tickets sold out almost immediately.
Tourist groups, consisting of a few individuals, will journey up to 2.5km into Syrian territory that was previously restricted before the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) took control of the Golan buffer zone following the ousting of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in December. Israel has held the Golan Heights since 1967 and currently governs several hundred additional square kilometers of Syrian territory.
The IDF, however, said that the tour was “inside Israel”, rather than Syria, although the visits take place in the Golan Heights demilitarised buffer zone, internationally recognised as Syrian territory.
Visit Mount Hermon, which overlooks the Syrian capital of Damascus, and see the Lebanese Shebaa Farms at the foot of the mountain.
Mount Hermon is a significant mountain range located in the Golan Heights and Lebanese border area, with strategic importance for Israel. Due to its height, it’s considered a critical early warning system. The mountain is also mentioned in the ancient Jewish apocryphal Book of Enoch, and some suggest it’s where Jesus Christ’s transfiguration took place.
The strip of Lebanese land under Israeli occupation, believed to be where God’s covenant with Abraham was made, has been a volatile area of conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant organization Hezbollah.
Guests can also enjoy hiking and swimming in the Ruqqad River valley, which merges with the Yarmouk River on the Jordanian border. They can also explore remnants of the deserted Ottoman Hejaz railway, which previously linked Istanbul to Haifa, Nablus, and sacred locations in modern-day Saudi Arabia.
According to Yedioth Ahronoth (YNET), the IDF’s 210th Division, the Golan regional council, the Keshet Yehonatan religious education center, the Golan Field School, and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority have all coordinated these trips.
The tours are a component of the wider project Back to a Safer North, following the conclusion of the previous year’s conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which stemmed from the regional repercussions triggered by Hamas’s assault on Israel in October 2023 and the subsequent conflict in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military emphasized the significance of reviving heritage and tourism in the region and recounting the battles fought during the war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has requested that the Syrian Islamist-led transitional government’s forces avoid the border area and that the IDF stay in place until a different solution is established.
eTurboNews contacted the Israel Ministry of Tourism, but no response was received. It’s not clear if non-Israeli citizens can book this controversial tour.
SOURCE: Guardian Media Group plc (GMG), a British-based mass media company owning various media operations, including The Guardian and The Observer. The group is wholly owned by the Scott Trust Limited, which exists to secure The Guardian’s financial and editorial independence in perpetuity.