Dozens of Druze crowded the Israeli-controlled side of the armistice line in the occupied Golan Heights on Thursday, hoping to catch a glimpse of relatives on the Syrian-held side who might try to cross the barbed-wire frontier.

Young men drove around the area near the de facto border, waving the Druze flag with its five colourful stripes representing the pillars of their Druze faith, an esoteric offshoot of Shiite Islam.

The area has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, separating the Golan Druze from their relatives across the demilitarised buffer zone.

In the crowds, everyone asked for news of their families across the frontier, where days of violence in Syria's Druze-majority Sweida province have left hundreds dead since Sunday, according to a monitor.

"Because of the dramatic situation in Syria, the murders, massacres and the violence, many people headed towards the border," said Qamar Abu Saleh, a 36-year-old educator, who lives in Majdal Shams.

"They opened the fence and entered, and people from Syria also started crossing here.

"It was like a dream, and we still can't believe it happened",........

© International Business Times