from MintPress News:
Israel wasted no time following the abrupt collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria. Within hours of Assad’s fall on December 8, 2024, Israeli forces seized the buffer zone separating the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from the rest of Syria. They raised Israel’s flag atop Mount Hermon.
More than a month later, Israeli troops remain stationed in the United Nations-patrolled area — raiding government buildings and summoning residents for questioning — all the while alleging its presence is necessary to secure Israel’s border as the balance of power shifts in Syria.
Yet a combination of soldier and settler actions as of late question whether Israel has long-term plans for Syria.
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Eyeing Syria
The same day as Assad’s ousting and Israel’s invasion, Uri Tzafon, an Israeli settler movement to reoccupy southern Lebanon, wrote on their blog, “In Syria too, we must go at least 10 kilometers [approximately six miles] deep and reclaim the entire Hermon range. Jewish settlement will ensure Israeli control for generations.”
The Nachala settler movement, which has been active in advocating for Israeli resettlement of Gaza, also called for occupying Syria for the sake of security.
The answer to the chaos in Syria – taking territory and Jewish settlement,” Nachala wrote on Facebook on December 8, 2024. “Whoever still thinks it’s possible to leave our fate in the hands of a foreign actor — forsakes Israel’s security!”
The post included a biblical map showing Israel’s territory, including all of Lebanon and most of Syria and Iraq.
While some settlers stressed the need to establish settlements to safeguard security, others were more transparent with their rationale. For instance, Yaakov Socol, a member of Uri Tzafon, wrote in an op-ed on the Israeli right-wing news website Arutz Sheva:
The territories in question are part of the Land of Israel and are full of Jewish heritage sites. We have every right to own these territories and annex them to the State of Israel…This is not about taking over the land of another people, but rather taking over a territory that originally belonged to us…these are our territories by right, and to ensure our continued existence in these territories for the distant future, a Jewish settlement should be established on the ruins of the Arab villages.”
Other social media posts also expressed enthusiasm over further Israeli occupation of Syria.
My Israel, which describes itself as a Zionist Israeli online movement, posted images of soldiers raising the Israeli flag on Mount Hermon with the caption “Syria. The nation of Israel lives” in Hebrew.
סוריה.
עם ישראל חי 🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/vI7D7HUrjV— ישראל שלי | MyIsrael (@MyIsraelorgil) December 11, 2024
A video of Orthodox Jews praying in what they alleged was the Syrian village of Hader circulated online.
According to Israeli news site The Hottest Place in Hell, the video was shared in Uri Tzafon’s WhatsApp group with members confused about how the activists entered a closed military area. One Uri Tzafon member wrote that they “probably entered with the help of one of the soldiers in the area, it happens all the time. They wouldn’t have entered without the cooperation of soldiers.”
