❗️Occupied Golan erupts as Druze residents torch wind farm equipment in revolt against Israeli ‘green colonialism’

Residents of the Israeli occupied Syrian Golan torched construction vehicles and drove workers off the site on Monday, 11 May, as protests erupted again against the controversial Aran Wind Farm project, a large-scale Israeli renewable energy development widely condemned by local Druze as an attempt to entrench the occupation under the guise of green infrastructure.

According to local and Israeli media reports, dozens of Druze residents intercepted engineering crews attempting to resume work on the project, overturning and setting fire to multiple vehicles and forcing contractors to flee agricultural lands near their villages. Energix Renewable Energies
said eight of its employees and foreign workers were injured in the clashes, with two reportedly requiring hospital treatment. The confrontation marked the most serious unrest since the mass protests of June 2023, when thousands mobilized against the turbines and clashed with Israeli police.

The Aran project, developed by Energix Renewable Energies consists of 32 wind turbines planned across the northern occupied Golan Heights at an estimated cost of roughly 700 million shekels. The company says the installation will generate electricity for around 50,000 households over two decades. Syrian Druze residents and rights advocates have denounced the initiative as “green colonialism,” arguing that the 220-meter turbines will disrupt apple and cherry orchards, damage bird migration routes, and further consolidate Israeli control over annexed Syrian land.

In a statement following the unrest, Energix Renewable Energies said “several dozen rioters” caused extensive damage to construction equipment and accused Israeli police of failing to secure the site. The company maintains that the wind farm is a nationally approved infrastructure project that occupies only a small portion of agricultural land and will benefit the region economically. Its opponents reject that argument, insisting the project represents the commodification of occupied land and natural resources without the consent of the indigenous Syrian population.