In Israel, skiing on the edge of Syria’s war

The snowy ridge of Mount Hermon separates two worlds. In one, Syria’s war rages. In the other, Israeli tourists slalom down ski slopes or drink mulled wine to the sound of techno music.

On a clear day Damascus is visible from the top of the ski lift 2,200 metres (7,200 feet) above sea level in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights where tourists reapply their sunscreen. The Syrian capital is only 40 kilometres (25 miles) away but there is no access to it as Israel and Syria are still officially at war.

Israel seized most of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed the territory in a move never recognised by the international community.

For Israelis, the Hermon range, straddling Lebanon and the Syrian and Israeli-held sectors of the Golan, is a highly strategic area under close surveillance.

But every year when the snowflakes fall, Mount Hermon becomes a ski resort unlike perhaps any other in the world.

Skiers thinking of venturing off-piste are discouraged by the large signs warning of landmines, while in the distance antennas mark vast Israeli military bases. Soldiers are everywhere.

Chair lifts are close to military outposts where soldiers scan the horizon with binoculars.

“If Syrians want to infiltrate here then they should be very good skiers,” jokes Nabir Abu Saleh, head of the ski patrol station, pointing to the steep slope forming a natural buffer adjacent to the Syrian side.

“And if it is summer, they would have to be motocross champions.”

The Israeli Army is less fearful of infiltration than of stray shells fired by the Syrian military or rebels.

“We have already had to evacuate the site on several occasions. We’re very well organised,” Liron Mills, the director of the site, told AFP.

“We do not feel the war here. It is protected. There is the Army, the police and we are in complete coordination with them,” says Mills, who is also a ski instructor with reservists for the Israeli Army.

In his spare time, he introduces young conscripts deployed to the area to ski basics.