{"id":212929,"date":"2025-01-11T10:40:09","date_gmt":"2025-01-11T10:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/11\/israels-campaign-in-syrian-border-area-prompts-fears-it-plans-to-stay\/"},"modified":"2025-01-11T10:40:09","modified_gmt":"2025-01-11T10:40:09","slug":"israels-campaign-in-syrian-border-area-prompts-fears-it-plans-to-stay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/11\/israels-campaign-in-syrian-border-area-prompts-fears-it-plans-to-stay\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s Campaign in Syrian Border Area Prompts Fears It Plans to Stay"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/11\/multimedia\/11syria-buffer-zone-01-jzpf\/11syria-buffer-zone-01-jzpf-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Israel\u2019s Campaign in Syrian Border Area Prompts Fears It Plans to Stay\" title=\"Israel\u2019s Campaign in Syrian Border Area Prompts Fears It Plans to Stay\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israeli soldiers have raided Syrian border villages, prompting nervous residents to huddle in their homes. They have captured the country\u2019s highest peak, have set up roadblocks between Syrian towns and now overlook local villages from former Syrian military outposts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The stunning <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/12\/21\/world\/middleeast\/assad-regime-syria-final-days.html\" title=\"\">downfall of Syria\u2019s longtime leader, Bashar al-Assad<\/a>, closed a chapter in the country\u2019s decade-long civil war. But it also marked the start of an Israeli <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/05\/world\/middleeast\/israel-raids-syria.html\" title=\"\">incursion into the border region<\/a>, which Israel has called a temporary defensive move to guarantee its own security.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Thousands of Syrians now live in areas at least partly controlled by Israeli forces, leaving many anxious over how long the campaign will last. Israeli troops have detained some residents and opened fire during at least two protests against the raids, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.syriahr.com\/%d8%aa%d9%88%d8%ba%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d9%88%d8%a7%d8%b9%d8%aa%d9%82%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d9%88%d8%aa%d9%87%d8%ac%d9%8a%d8%b1-%d9%84%d9%84%d9%85%d8%af%d9%86%d9%8a%d9%8a%d9%86-%d9%85%d9%86%d8%b0\/744696\/?fbclid=IwY2xjawHsyV9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHb6PAGvrHqo9s_Y9At3sKDwtytD61qhssiEIZdLOGnNg_pQhy1tpzrBM4A_aem_7G2G9p8L8AzLBj79zhB-Zg\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">according<\/a> to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an independent monitor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At least some Syrians now say they fear the Israeli presence could become a prolonged military occupation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe\u2019re the only part of the country that didn\u2019t truly manage to celebrate the fall of the Assad regime \u2014 because even as the tyrant fell, the Israeli military came,\u201d lamented Shaher al-Nuaimi, who lives in the border village of Khan Arnabeh, which has been raided by the Israeli military.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israel and Syria have fought multiple conflicts, but for decades, the border separating the two has been largely quiet. They last went to war in 1973, when Syria and Egypt invaded Israel on Yom Kippur, Judaism\u2019s holiest day. Afterward, both sides agreed to create a demilitarized buffer zone patrolled by United Nations peacekeepers that served as a de facto border.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But when Syrian rebels drove Mr. al-Assad from power on Dec. 8, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel ordered his country\u2019s troops to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/12\/08\/world\/middleeast\/israel-syria-golan-buffer-zone.html\" title=\"\">\u201ctake over\u201d the buffer zone<\/a>, home to a number of Syrian villages. He <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/12\/08\/world\/middleeast\/israel-demilitarized-zone-syria.html\" title=\"\">called it a temporary move<\/a> to \u201censure that no hostile force embeds itself right next to the border with Israel\u201d amid Syria\u2019s internal upheaval and after the Hamas-led surprise attack from Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, that left some 1,200 people dead in Israel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israeli forces quickly seized the peak of Mount Hermon, the highest mountain in Syria, and advanced along the length of the buffer zone and beyond it. Around the same time, Israel said it <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/12\/10\/world\/middleeast\/israel-strikes-syria.html\" title=\"\">conducted<\/a> hundreds of airstrikes around the country targeting fighter jets, tanks, missiles and other weapons belonging to Mr. al-Assad\u2019s government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The continued military campaign, particularly the ground operation in the de facto border area, has prompted international accusations that Israel is violating the decades-old cease-fire.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Israeli military is operating in the border area \u201cnow similarly to the West Bank, in that it can go in and go out anywhere it wants and arrest whomever it wants,\u201d said Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, in a phone interview.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some Syrians said they hoped for good relations with Israel, citing their shared animosity toward Iran, which backed Mr. al-Assad\u2019s regime. Israel also provided medical care to some Syrians inside Israeli-held territory during the decade-long Syrian civil war, including those from the border area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe medical treatment broke through some of the enmity that people felt,\u201d said Dirar al-Bashir, a local leader in the border region of Quneitra.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Mr. al-Bashir and others also said that if Israel\u2019s operation became a protracted occupation, that would ignite further violence in a country exhausted by years of civil war. Israel already controls <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/03\/21\/world\/middleeast\/golan-heights-israel.html\" title=\"\">much of the Golan Heights<\/a>, territory once held by Syria that Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war and subsequently annexed in a move not recognized by most of the international community.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe want peace, but the decision makers in Israel seem to think that they will achieve everything by force,\u201d said Arsan Arsan, a resident of a Syrian village outside the buffer zone who has helped coordinate between U.N. officials and local residents. \u201cIf they push people into a corner, things will explode, just as they did in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israeli officers have also entered villages to meet with local leaders and demand that they gather up all of the weaponry in their towns and hand it over to the Israeli military, according to seven residents. The towns mostly complied with the order, leading Israeli soldiers to take out rifles by the truckload, they said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israel did not respond to requests for comment on specific accusations by local residents. But the Israeli military said on Wednesday that its forces have seized and destroyed weapons that formerly belonged to the Syrian army, including anti-tank missiles and explosive devices.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Syrian residents and local leaders in the border area also said that Israeli military vehicles have damaged water pipes and electrical cables around some villages, causing blackouts and water cuts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Turki al-Mustafa, 62, said there had been no running water in his town, Hamidiyeh, since Israeli troops entered the buffer zone. He said that troops had allowed some water to be trucked in, but had set up roadblocks around the town, ordering residents to enter and leave only at designated hours.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Cellphone reception has also become spotty in the buffer zone since the Israeli incursion, according to Ahmad Khreiwish, 37, a resident of the town of Rafeed, making communication difficult.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cEveryone is now living with this dread about the Israeli military,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want things to escalate between us. We just want safety and security.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some Syrians have protested the Israeli military presence, organizing demonstrations in at least four villages. Two residents of the town of Sweisa said Israeli soldiers had opened fire and injured several people during a protest there on Dec. 25.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThey were unarmed and chanting slogans against Israel\u2019s deployment in the area,\u201d one of the residents, Ziyad al-Fuheili, 43, said of the protesters. \u201cAt first, the soldiers shot in the air, but when the crowd kept marching toward them, they fired at the demonstrators.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israel\u2019s military said that its forces had fired \u201cwarning shots\u201d in Sweisa and that it was looking into reports that civilians had been harmed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Even before Mr. al-Assad\u2019s fall, Israel worried about Iran-backed militias gaining a foothold along the Syrian border. Israeli warplanes regularly struck Iranian officials and their allies in Syria as part of the yearslong shadow war between the two sides.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The decision to send in troops reflects concerns about the prospect of surprise attacks on Israel, like the one that prompted the 1973 war, as well as the 2023 assault from Gaza. That prompted Israel\u2019s wars with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, along with Israeli airstrikes on Iran-linked targets in Syria well before Mr. al-Assad\u2019s ouster.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-10\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIsrael is closely monitoring the situation in Syria, and will not jeopardize its own security,\u201d Gideon Saar, Israel\u2019s foreign minister, said this month. \u201cWe will not allow another Oct. 7 on any front.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Syria\u2019s new leadership has criticized the Israeli military moves. Critics abroad, including several Arab states and France, have called Israel\u2019s actions a violation of the decades-long truce and called on Israel to withdraw. <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/sis.gov.eg\/Story\/202513\/Egypt-condemns-Israeli-seizure-of-buffer-zone-with-Syria?lang=a\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Egypt accused Israel<\/a> of \u201cexploiting Syria\u2019s current instability to expand its territorial control and impose a new reality on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israel\u2019s officials say they will only withdraw after \u201cnew arrangements\u201d are in place along the border. Given the chaotic internal situation in Syria, that could take months or even longer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In Kodana, a small Syrian village just outside the buffer zone, Israeli armored vehicles arrived just a few days after Mr. al-Assad\u2019s fall, according to the mayor, Maher al-Tahan. He said the Israeli troops told village leaders to broadcast a message over mosque loudspeakers ordering Kodana\u2019s roughly 800 residents to turn over any weapons. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Since then, the Israeli military has brought generators and set up makeshift barracks in the hills overlooking Kodana, he said. But since most of Kodana\u2019s wells sit on those hilltops, he and other residents said, they have turned to buying expensive trucked-in water rather than pumping it out of the ground.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe Israeli military must leave as soon as possible,\u201d Mr. al-Tahan said. \u201cAs long as they stay here, the problems on both sides will simply continue to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/11\/world\/middleeast\/syria-buffer-israel.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Israeli soldiers have raided Syrian border villages, prompting nervous residents to huddle in their homes. They have captured the country\u2019s highest peak, have set up roadblocks between Syrian towns and now overlook local villages from former Syrian military outposts. The stunning downfall of Syria\u2019s longtime leader, Bashar al-Assad, closed a chapter in the country\u2019s decade-long [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":212930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/11\/multimedia\/11syria-buffer-zone-01-jzpf\/11syria-buffer-zone-01-jzpf-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[164494,16312,54582,164238,4757,196,2243,163198,137233,3747,2622,32652,164951,3096,38,5558,4758,1925,6694,125,19366,54580],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212929"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212929"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212931,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212929\/revisions\/212931"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}