An hour’s drive from Damascus, on a country road into the Syrian village of Hadar, we meet Israel’s army.
It was evidence of Israel’s incursion into Syrian territory – the temporary seizure, it said, of a UN-monitored buffer zone, set up in a ceasefire agreement 50 years ago.
The village chief, Jawdat al-Tawil, pointed to the Golan Heights territory Israel occupied in 1967, clearly visible from Hadar’s terraces.
When Israel occupied part of the Golan Heights in the 1967 war, and later unilaterally annexed it, some of the Druze there opted to remain and take Israeli citizenship.
Al-Sharaa, the leader of the Syrian militia Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that forced President Assad from power this month, has his family roots in the occupied Golan Heights.
We meet Israel’s army during a one-hour drive from Damascus into the Syrian village of Hadar on a country road.
An impromptu checkpoint is manned by two military vehicles and a number of soldiers in full combat gear—a foreign authority in a nation that is celebrating its independence. We were waved through.
It claimed that the temporary seizure of a UN-monitored buffer zone established in a ceasefire agreement fifty years prior was proof of Israel’s incursion into Syrian territory.
“They might stay, they might leave, they might make the area safe and then leave,” Hadar resident Riyad Zaidan said. “We’ll have to wait and see, but we want to hope. “,”.
Jawdat al-Tawil, the village chief, gestured toward the Golan Heights, which Israel had occupied in 1967 and which was plainly visible from Hadar’s terraces.
Relatives of many of the locals still reside here.
Their own village, some of which protrude into the demilitarized zone, is now frequently surrounded by Israeli forces. The hillside above is being worked on by Israeli bulldozers.
Fatalism tinges the sense of freedom here, a week after the overthrow of President Assad’s regime.
Jawdat al-Tawil told me proudly how the village had defended itself against militia groups during the Syrian civil war, and showed me portraits of the dozens of men who had died doing so.
“We do not permit anyone to trespass on our property,” he declared. Israel is a state, and we cannot oppose it. Although Israel is a superpower, we used to oppose individuals. “,”.
Israel has also launched hundreds of airstrikes on military targets throughout Syria since the overthrow of former President Bashar al-Assad earlier this month.
Additionally, Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, has announced plans to double the number of people living in Israeli settlements in the occupied Golan Heights. He claims that the need for this action stems from “the new front” that has opened up in Syria.
Before that plan was announced, Syria’s interim leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, stated that his government did not want war with Israel and warned that Israel’s military actions endangered unjustified regional escalation.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry described its military incursions in Syria as “limited and temporary” and maintained that its actions were required due to the threats posed by jihadist groups operating along the ceasefire line with Syria.
The Druze, a close-knit, reclusive group that split off from mainstream Shia Islam centuries ago, make up the majority of Hadar’s population.
Some of the Druze in the Golan Heights chose to stay and become citizens of Israel after Israel unilaterally annexed and occupied a portion of the region during the 1967 war.
The occupied Golan Heights is the ancestral home of al-Sharaa, the leader of the Syrian militia Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which overthrew President Assad this month.
On the side under Syrian control, some people are afraid that Israel is planning to seize more land.
Israel has been fighting the Iranian-backed militia that aided Assad there for years. Tehran and its proxy forces, such as the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, rely heavily on this border area for the supply of weapons.
Iran and those groups are now weaker as a result of Assad’s overthrow. However, Israel has since intensified its military campaign, expanding its reach by exploiting the political void.
Additionally, it has been attacking military hardware that Assad’s forces have left at bases throughout the nation out of concern for potential future users.
The “immediate risks” to Israel still exist, according to Israel Katz, the country’s defense minister, and the recent events in Syria have made the threat more serious “despite the moderate appearance that rebel leaders claim to present.”.
Syria’s Druze are more accepting of Israel than many other communities here, despite being marginalized by the Assad government and singled out as unbelievers by Sunni jihadist organizations like HTS.
