When the Golan Heights became a front in Israel’s ongoing war,

On the afternoon of July 27, a rocket fired by Hezbollah struck next to a sports field in the center of the Druze town of Majdal Shams, killing 12 children and teenagers. It was the worst mass murder of Druze in the Golan Heights in living memory. I drove into the town to see the community after the tragedy.

Majdal Shams is a large town at the foot of Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights. As it developed, it grew along the foot of the mountain and expanded downwards, bringing it closer to two other Druze towns, Masada and Buqata, so that they form one large community. In winter, Majdal Shams is known as a base for skiing on Mount Hermon. In summer, the town has a number of open-air restaurants catering to visitors. It is prosperous and pretty.

Residents of the Druze communities in the Golan Heights have been on the front lines of wars in the past. After the 1967 war, when Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria, the Druze remained. Israelis settled in the Golan Heights and established a dozen small communities there. Many Druze in the Golan Heights have a complicated relationship with Israel. Unlike Druze in the rest of Israel, they were slow to accept Israeli citizenship and are still in conflict with their former Syrian nationality. Syria considers them Syrians. During the Syrian civil war, they cautiously watched what was happening across the border when Syrian rebels attacked Druze villages on the other side.

Since October 7, they have found themselves near a new front line as Hezbollah has rained rockets on Israel. During the first few months of Hezbollah attacks, the Golan Heights were largely quiet. However, in the spring and summer of 2024, Hezbollah began to expand its attacks, targeting Israeli bases in the Golan Heights.

On the afternoon of July 27, a large Hezbollah rocket hit Majdal Shams. As news of the attack spread, it became clear that this was a mass attack, with many children and young people killed or injured. I was in Jerusalem at the time, and it was evening. It was clear that this was an unprecedented Hezbollah attack, the worst of the war in terms of civilian casualties. How would Israel respond? How would Hezbollah respond? I drove up from Jerusalem all night and arrived in Majdal Shams after midnight.

ASSESSING THE DAMAGE around a soccer field after the Hezbollah rocket hit. (Source: Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images)

Travel to Majdal Shams after the Hezbollah attack

The trip to Majdal Shams was uneventful. After the mass murder, Hezbollah tried to twist the story and claim it was not responsible. It knew it had made a mistake and massacred civilians. It was unclear whether Hezbollah had deliberately attacked the town.

When I arrived, Majdal Shams was quiet. There were no police cars or medical teams. Security forces and medical teams had arrived earlier in the evening. Israel Defense Forces members and others had come to the town to express their solidarity and condolences. Now the town was busy managing its own affairs.

When I arrived, I didn't know exactly where the impact site was, but it wasn't difficult to find. The missile had landed next to a playground, between the playground and a soccer field. The soccer field itself borders a much larger field in the center of town. The whole site is centrally located in the city, and the municipal buildings are close by. If you wanted to aim a missile at the center of this city, that's where you would have aimed.

At three in the morning, the crowd was dominated by long lines of young men milling back and forth. Some were carrying chairs to the large field where the Druze community planned to hold a memorial service later that day. As the night wore on, groups of young men came and went. They were all dressed in black, some wearing the white caps common among young Druze.

I was able to sleep in my car for a few hours that night and returned to the site of the attack in the morning. Meanwhile, people began to arrive to sit on the white chairs that now covered the square. Older men arrived first, including Druze religious leaders. Many wanted to see the site where the rocket had hit.

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The site was near the corner of a field. The fence that normally surrounded the field had been blown away and charred by the explosion. There were bicycles that had been burned and destroyed by the explosion. The children and young people would have been standing on these bicycles. There was also a shelter nearby, but it was obviously not big enough to provide shelter for a large number of people. It was one of the concrete shelters several meters long and two meters wide that were hastily built in parts of northern Israel during the war.

But there are not enough shelters. In many communities, there are only a few of these new shelters, which are set up in places where people gather.

As the day progressed, people gradually arrived in Majdal Shams to gather for the ceremony that was to take place in the afternoon. Education Minister Yoav Kisch also came briefly to see the site of the attack. Most of those present were Druze, but there were also members of the Jewish community. There were signs of solidarity on the roads leading to Majdal Shams, with some shops already putting up signs about the massacre. Black flags were also hanging from signs.

In the Jewish community of El Rom, residents gathered in the streets with Israeli flags and the colorful Druze flag to show their support. The feeling of solidarity was strong.

The Golan Heights had become a new front in the long war on terror that began on October 7. 

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