Zohar Al-Din Ibrahim Fares

Son of Fares was born in 1927 in Mount Lebanon. When he grew up, he joined the Syrian army, from which he moved to the Arab battalion of Shakib and the father, who was a captain in the Syrian colonial army and deserted him and joined the Arab forces who fought the Jews in Palestine. The captain collected about 400-500 fighters from the Druze Mountain and Ibrahim Fares joined them. The soldiers of the Druze Mountain were known as brave fighters and their battalion was called Jabal al-Druze (Jabal Druze). It was, in fact, a regiment of mercenaries and he came to Palestine at the request of Kaukji – who was the commander of the “Rescue Army”. The soldiers participated in the attack on Ramat Yohanan in the Zevulun Valley. After this attack, about sixty soldiers from the battalion, including Ibrahim Fares, and following an agreement between the heads of the Druze community in Israel and the Haganah and Moshe Dayan, headed for the Israel Defense Forces and formed the unit of minorities. After rapid reorganization, the unit was sent to the Western Galilee. During Operation Hiram to liberate the Western Galilee, the unit fought under the command of the Oded Brigade, which operated in the western sector of the operation. On the night of 28-29 October our forces attacked Tarshiha and the Druze unit was assigned to conquer the village of Yanuh. The attack on Tarshiha did not succeed, and the forces were ordered to retreat. The Druze unit took control of Yanu, but due to faults in the connection, it did not accept the withdrawal order. In the morning Kaukji’s forces recovered and with the help of some villagers attacked the unit and was forced to retreat. Ibrahim Fares fell in this battle on October 29, 1948, and the next day he was buried on the battlefield. About four years later, the Druze military cemetery was established in the village of Usfiya on the Carmel, and the bodies of those killed in that battle were transferred at an impressive ceremony for eternal rest in Isfiya