Israel is experiencing a dramatic increase in citizenship applications from members of the Druze community who live on its side of the Golan Heights, The Times of Israel reported on Saturday. The spike in requests, which grew from two in 2010 to 80 thus far in 2015, is seen as a consequence of the ongoing civil war in Syria.

Government sources indicate that over 150 Druze residents of the Golan became Israeli citizens since 2011, when the Syrian civil war began. The majority of the applicants have been youths.

According to the Times, “some Golan Heights Druze are embracing Israeli citizenship out of a fear of widespread persecution in Syria if Assad’s regime — a government that protected the minority group — falls, or is forced out of power.”

In June, Israel asked the United States to send more aid to the Druze community in Syria after the terrorist group al-Nusra Front, an affiliate of al-Qaeda, massacred some 20 of its members.

Israel offered citizenship to the approximately 20,000 Druze residents of the Golan after it initially extended its jurisdiction to the territory in 1981, although only less than 10 percent accepted.

The Druze community in Israel numbers close to 130,000, a majority of whom are citizens of the state. According to the Israeli Defense Forces, over 80 percent of Druze men serve in the military, where many have reached senior positions. Photographer Aviram Valdman profiled the community for the August 2013 issue of The Tower Magazine.

Amid the din of religions, ethnic groups, sects, and clans that make up the Middle East–Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews, Shiites, Sunnis, Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Alawites, Hashemites (and the list goes on)–one group, the Druze, remains tantalizingly quiet. A community with roots in Islam that is Arab by ethnicity, the Druze exist as both a distinct nationality and a religion that worships according to the tenets of a sect shrouded in secrecy.

The Druze are known for their loyalty to the countries they call home, including Israel, where they have distinguished themselves in business and on the battlefield, as well at the dining table and political forums. With their communities tucked into the hills of the Galilee, where some of the most cherished shrines, including the Tomb of Jethro, still exist, the Druze are a part of Israel and yet separate from it, deeply embedded in national life and yet able to maintain a distinct identity that has endured for centuries.

[Photo: Moshe Milner / GPO/FLASH90 ]