Israel on Thursday, 4 Menachem Av opened the Kunetra Crossing to Syria to permit Druse students to leave that country and return home to their Golan Heights communities. The 23 students completed their studies for this year and none of them will be returning for the next academic year. In addition, new students will no longer cross the border crossing into Syria to attend university there in what appears to be the end of an era.

Officials in Israel report that not a single Druse student has registered for studies in Syria in the coming year due to the increasingly deadly civil war in that country. Druse students have been traveling to Syria for studies since 1989 as the Syrian administration provides Druse students with optimal conditions including free tuition and government allowances for spending money, with the latter sufficing to pay rent.

Officials from Druse communities report 22 students remain in Syria as they try to complete the paperwork towards receiving their academic accreditation before returning home.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)