Quneitra, GOLAN HEIGHTS — In the sweltering August heat, Majid (not his real name) was sweating while studying for an upcoming exam. The difficulty was not in the complexity of the material, but rather in the fact that the examination hall was going to be in an active war zone, in Damascus. While thousands of Syrians are trying to flee the atrocities in their homeland — which have so far claimed over 110,000 lives — Majid is one of 35 students who returned from their peaceful villages in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to the country ravaged by a civil war that has been raging for more than 2½ years. More than 30 more students are set to travel back to Syria later this month.

Druze and Alawite youths from the Golan Heights have been coming to Syria for decades to study at the University of Damascus. The reasons for this are both ideological and practical. Many of the students’ parents and grandparents were born in Syria, but found themselves under Israeli rule after the Israelis captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it. The Damascus government has encouraged the students by waiving university fees and providing a small monthly stipend, which continues to be distributed even today. In Israel, entry requirements for competitive courses such as medicine are considerably higher.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), up until March 2010, studying in Syria was very popular among the Druze and Alawite youths of the Golan Heights. More than 300 students crossed the border with Syria back and forth each year. This year, however, there are no new freshmen. About 70 students who are coming back are all in the final years of their lengthy medical or pharmaceutical degree programs. Dropping out for them would mean years of wasted hard work and the daunting process of starting over. But going back to Syria carries risks that students and parents alike would rather not think about.

“Just because the students are crossing into Syria does not imply in any way that the situation in Syria has improved,” said Ran Goldstein, the ICRC spokesman. The ICRC acts as a mediator between the Israeli and Syrian governments in facilitating the crossings as well as providing humanitarian aid within Syria. Goldstein added that the situation in Syria is “extremely difficult,” particularly concerning “access and security.”