Along the road to the border near Buq'ata, a town in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, lay rubbish and warnings signs of land mines. At the end of the road is a ridge that falls down to a plain neighboring Syria, which is where a civil war takes place. Ezat Mdali, a civil engineer who lives on the Israeli side of the border claims, "when there's action, people phone each other up and come here." Residents in the area say that they hear shooting or shelling from over the border on a daily basis. In March, the fighting was so intense that windows would shake in towns on the Israeli side of the border.
The fighting was ceased for four decades after Israel and Syria agreed on a cease-fire and the border was policed by 1,000 U.N. troops. Now, the northern border is more tense than at any time since the cease-fire was signed. Israel has been reinforcing its border fence which should be finished in July. They are also replacing the reserve troops in the Golan with regular forces. U.N. vehicles have been patrolling the cease-fire line which cuts through communities, which separates family and friends. People have been staying in touch using e-mail and Facebook.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/tensions-build-on-israel-syria-border/2013/04/17/9bcca7fe-a77e-11e2-b029-8fb7e977ef71_story.html
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