Tel Aviv, March 14 -- Dozens of Syrian Druze clerics crossed into Israel on Friday for their community's first pilgrimage to a revered shrine since Israel's creation in 1948, The Times of Israel reported.

On board three buses escorted by military vehicles, the clerics crossed the armistice line at Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, and headed to northern Israel, The Times of Israel reported.

The delegation of around 60 clerics was due to meet the spiritual leader of Israel's Druze community, Sheikh Muafak Tarif, in northern Israel.

They were then set to head to the tomb of Nabi Shuaib near Tiberius in the Galilee -- the most important religious site for the Druze.

Followers of the monotheistic Druze faith are mainly divided between Sy...