Smokes billows from the southern Syrian Druze village of Hadar on November 3, 2017 as seen from the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. (AFP PHOTO)
JERUSALEM, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- Israel's military said Friday that it would help the Syrian village of Hader and prevent it from being "harmed or occupied," in a rare statement released amidst battles between rebels and Syrian regime forces.
A statement released by the Spokesperson Unit of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that "IDF is ready and prepared to assist the residents of the village and would prevent Hader from being harmed or occupied."
The statement cited "commitment to the Druze population" of Israel as the reason for the unusual offer.
The statement also denied Israel has been helping al-Nusra Front and other jihadi groups in Syria. Druze in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights have been charging that Israel frequently assists injured rebel militants and targets President Bashar Assad's army positions in response to stray fire.
Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri said that due to the fighting in Hader, police forces were deployed at major intersections in the Golan Heights.
"The deployment of the forces is intended to protect the Israeli residents in the north," a police statement reads.
The military spokesperson did not say how would the army intervene in the situation in Hader.
The rare statement marks the first time Israel officially declares it would take action in regard to the fighting in the neighboring Syria after it has repetitively said it would not intervene in the six-year war.
The statement came after hundreds of Druze citizens of Israel, many of them serve in the Israeli army, gathered at the border with Syria in solidarity with the Druze of Hader, where al-Nusra Front denotated a deadly car bomb.
Hebrew-language Channel 2 TV news reported that hundreds of them tried to cross over to Syria to help in protecting Hader, a Druze-majority village.
Israel occupied part of the Golan Heights during the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it later, in a move never recognized by the international community.
