Israel’s “temporary” occupation of territory in southern Syria is turning into something more permanent.
With the the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime last December, Israel went into high gear in an attempt to weaken Syria, one of its arch enemies.
Israel bombed Syrian military assets, most of which are Russian in origin, and unilaterally occupied Syria’s side of Mount Hermon. In addition, Israeli troops took control of the United Nations demilitarized buffer zone in Syria. It is near the Golan Heights, which Israel captured during the 1967 Six Day War.
Israeli officials left the strong impression that these were transient measures to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of Islamic State operatives or Assad loyalists in Syria, which is still in a technical state of war with Israel after four wars and countless skirmishes.
In recent weeks, however, the Israeli government has hardened its rhetoric against Syria’s new order and its de facto leader, Ahmed al-Shara, a former member of Al-Qaeda and Islamic State who claims to have moderated his views.
Examples abound.
Israel has let it be known that it intends to hold and demilitarize the areas it has seized. Israel continues to strike Syrian military sites. Israel has cast itself in the role as the protector of the Druze population in Syria. And Israel has denounced Shara, who was appointed interim president last month.
In light of its hostile attitude toward the new Syrian regime, Israel has deployed three brigades and established nine military outposts in Syria. Two of the brigades are stationed on or near the peak of Mount Hermon, which offers panoramic views of Damascus and the Bekaa Valley.
Israel’s security zone in southern Syria is made up of three areas. The first one, which stretches about five kilometers from the Israeli border, is populated by some 40,000 Syrian residents, the majority of whom are Druze. The second one, around 15 kilometers inside Syria, enables Israel to conduct raids aimed at capturing and destroying arms caches. The third one, as far as 80 kilometers inside Syria, extends into the outskirts of Damascus and the Druze-majority city of Suwayda.
In keeping with its doctrine of weakening the Syrian armed forces, Israel has been relentless in bombing its facilities.
Israel’s latest raids have taken place in the last nine days.
On March 4, the Israeli Air Force struck a weapons storage facility in Qardaha, Assad’s hometown, while ground troops blew up warehouses in two towns close to Israel’s border. On March 10, Israeli aircraft hit radar stations and other military targets in the towns of Jbab and Ezraa, both of which are in Daraa province, where the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011. On March 13, Israeli fighter jets bombed a residential building near Damascus that served as the headquarters of Islamic Jihad. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said one person had been killed.
The secretary-general of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, has condemned Israel’s air strikes, branding them “reckless provocations and escalations” designed to exploit “the political shift in Syria.”
Early this month, Netanyahu called for the “full demilitarization” of Syria’s southern provinces. As he put it, “We will not allow the Syrian army to enter the area south of Damascus, and we demand the removal of all weapons from Daraa, Quneitra and Suweyda.”
After a deadly clash between government forces and armed fighters in the mainly Druze-populated town of Jaramana, near Damascus, Netanyahu said he had instructed the Israeli army to “deliver a strong and clear warning” to Syria if more local Druze are killed or wounded.
Defence Minister Israel Katz went one step further. “We will not allow the extreme Islamic regime in Syria to harm the Druze,” he said, referring to Hayat Tahrir a-Sham, the Sunni Islamist group that spearheaded the ouster of Assad’s secular police state. “If (it) harms the Druze, it will be struck by us.”
Then, in a reference to the Israeli Druze community, he added, “We are committed to our Druze brothers in Israel to do everything to prevent harm to their Druze brothers in Syria. We will take all steps required to maintain their safety.”
Rejecting Israel’s threats, Syrian government officials and local Druze countered that they were not requesting Israel’s protection.
During the same week, as the Syrian regime moved to crush a rebellion in Latakia and Tartus mounted by fighters from Assad’s minority Alawite sect, Katz denounced Shara as “a jihadist terrorist of the Al-Qaeda school who is committing horrifying acts against a civilian population.”
Several days ago, during a visit to Mount Hermon, Katz taunted Shara. “Every morning, when he opens his eyes at the presidential palace in Damascus, he will see the Israel Defence Force is watching him from the Hermon. He will remember that we are here, and in the entire security area of southern Syria, to protect the Golan and Galilee residents against any of his threats and those of his jihadist friends.”
And in a telling indicator of Israel’s intentions, Katz declared, “The Israel Defence Force is prepared to stay in Syria for an unlimited amount of time. We will hold the security area in Hermon and make sure that all the security zone in southern Syria is demilitarized and clear of weapons and threats.”
Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, has adopted a hard line toward Syria as well. A day after advising the European Union to retain sanctions on Syria, he lambasted Shara’s transitional regime as “pure evil.”
Shara, realizing that Syria has never been weaker and more vulnerable than it is today, has sent conciliatory messages to Israel.
He has said that Syria is committed to the separation of forces deal that Israel and Syrian President Hafez al-Assad signed a year after the 1973 Yom Kippur War. While Shara has said that Syria has no aggressive designs against Israel and seeks no confrontations with Israeli forces, he has demanded Israel’s withdrawal from the United Nations buffer zone and Mount Hermon.
Curiously enough, he has not mentioned the Golan Heights, which Israel has occupied for the last 58 years and annexed in 1981.
Echoing Shara’s comments, Syrian Foreign Minister Assad al-Shibani said recently, “We will not accept any infringement on our sovereignty and independence.”
In keeping with Shebani’s demand, the United Nations issued a statement saying that Syria’s “territorial integrity must be fully restored.”
Turkey, having forged a special relationship with the new Syrian government, has denounced Israel’s recent moves. Hakan Fidan, the Turkish foreign minister, has called for an end to Israel’s “policy of regional expansion.”
It is doubtful whether Israel will heed his words.
Since Hamas’ deadly invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023, Israel has established security zones in the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon to protect Israeli civilians near the border.
The so-called “Trump effect” may well account for Israel’s bold and assertive policy.
Previous American presidents would doubtless have opposed Israel’s extra-territorial presence in Syria. The current president, Donald Trump, has remained conspicuously silent in the face of Israel’s incursions inside Syria because he does not object to them.
Having presumably received the Trump administration’s tacit or explicit approval, Israel is occupying Syrian territories to bolster its security and to ensure that an attack on the scale of October 7 never happens again. But these unilateral moves are antagonizing the majority of Syrians and further branding Israel as an enemy state.