Israel Says Golan Resident Spied for Syria

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Israel on Friday charged a Druze resident of the occupied Golan Heights with spying for Syria, the Shin Bet internal security service and police said.

A Shin Bet statement said that Sudki Sleiman Makat from the border village of Majdal Shams was charged with espionage, having contact with a foreign agent and passing information to the enemy in time of war.

The Shin Bet said that Makat was arrested with several other Golan residents suspected of gathering information on Israeli army activity on the strategic plateau and passing it on to Syrian government and intelligence officials.

Majdal Shams is the largest village on the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War.

Israel unilaterally annexed the Golan in 1981. The vast majority of its 18,000 Syrian inhabitants, mostly Druze who remained from the Golan's original population of 150,000, have refused to take Israeli citizenship.

Syria and Israel are still officially in a state of war.