Golan Heights

The Golan Heights is a volcanic highland in southwestern Syria, occupied by Israel since 1967 and largely administered as part of Israel. Its status remains disputed internationally.

Six-Day War: A 1967 war in which Israel fought Egypt, Jordan, and Syria and captured several territories. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria during this war.
Purple Line: The 1967 ceasefire line separating Israeli-controlled territory from neighboring Arab territories. It marks the line from which Israeli forces captured the Golan Heights.
Druze: A monotheistic religious community originating in the eleventh-century Middle East. Druze communities live on both sides of the Golan's dividing lines.
Syrian claim to the Golan Heights: Syria's claim to sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which Israel captured in 1967. It directly opposes Israel's claim and administration of the region.
Syrian displacement from the Golan Heights: The flight and displacement of much of the Golan's Syrian population during and after the 1967 war. It left most prewar Syrian towns depopulated and reshaped the region's demographics.
Yom Kippur War: A 1973 war begun by Egyptian and Syrian attacks on Israeli forces. Syrian forces attempted to retake the Golan Heights before Israel counterattacked.
United Nations Disengagement Observer Force Zone: A demilitarized area between Israeli and Syrian forces established by the 1974 disengagement agreement. It separates military forces along the Golan's eastern edge.
Bashar al-Assad: Syrian president from 2000 until the fall of his government in 2024. His government maintained Syria's claim to the Golan while negotiating intermittently with Israel.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 497: A 1981 resolution declaring Israel's imposition of its laws and administration on the Golan null and void. It rejects the legal effect Israel assigns to the Golan Heights Law.
Quneitra: A Syrian city in the Golan Heights, largely destroyed during the 1967 and 1973 wars. Its ruins became a symbol of Syrian loss and the unresolved territorial dispute.

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