Ein Almin, a former Syrian military post on the Golan Heights, will be open to tourists for the first time over the upcoming Sukkot holiday following an operation to clear the site of mines and unexploded ordnance, the Defense Ministry announced on Monday.

The site, abandoned by Syrian forces during the 1967 Six Day War, had been closed off for decades due to safety fears.

Spanning 45 dunams (11 acres), the outpost includes trenches, underground bunkers, and 15 aboveground structures once used by Syrian troops.

In preparation for the opening, the authorities cleared the area of more than 600 explosive devices and old weapons, including grenades, mortars, RPGs, and rifles. Visitors will be able to tour the site, view a display of munitions uncovered in recent years, and take part in a mock mine-detection activity.

“Over the course of 13 years of activity, the Israel National Mine Action Authority has cleared more than 45,000 dunams (11,000 acres) of minefields and unexploded ordnance from Dan to Eilat, with the aim of allowing the general public to safely travel in various tourist sites, expand agricultural land, and enable the construction of tens of thousands of industrial and residential buildings,” said head of the authority Shachar Beck.

“We invite the people of Israel to join us this coming Sukkot, to become acquainted firsthand with the work of mine clearance, and to enjoy for the first time in history a site that had been closed to the public for decades,” he adds.

The site is only one of the former Syrian outposts in the Golan Heights that were abandoned by the Syrians after Israel conquered the area during the Six Day War. Some were later repurposed by the IDF, while others remain abandoned.

Tourism in the Golan Heights and Galilee came to a standstill after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which was followed by near-daily rocket attacks by the Hezbollah terror group starting the next day.

The constant attacks culminated in an Israeli ground offensive in Lebanon last October aimed at sabotaging Hezbollah’s positions and capabilities that ended more than a month later with a ceasefire agreement.

While only the Israeli towns closest to the border were evacuated during the conflict, tourism in the Golan was largely shut down for more than a year. The few guesthouses that remained open primarily hosted soldiers and other security forces, and some hotels near the Sea of Galilee took in evacuees from the northern border communities.

Residents and tourists have steadily returned after the ceasefire agreement and the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime in December, which has led to cautiously warming ties between Syria and Israel.

Jessica Steinberg contributed to this report.