Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s order for Israeli troops to “take over” a buffer zone with Syria upended decades of relative calm along the de facto border between the two countries.
Israeli soldiers have raided Syrian border villages, prompting nervous residents to huddle in their homes. They have captured the country’s highest peak, have set up roadblocks between Syrian towns and now overlook local villages from former Syrian military outposts.
The stunning downfall of Syria’s longtime leader, Bashar al-Assad, closed a chapter in the country’s decade-long civil war. But it also marked the start of an Israeli incursion into the border region, which Israel has called a temporary defensive move to protect its own security.
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, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an independent monitor.
At least some Syrians now say they fear the Israeli presence could become a prolonged military occupation.
“We’re the only part of the country that didn’t truly manage to celebrate the fall of the Assad regime — because even as the tyrant fell, the Israeli military came,” lamented Shaher al-Nuaimi, who lives in the border village of Khan Arnabeh, which has been raided by the Israeli military.
Approximate advance of the Israeli military into Syria
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Damascus
Lebanon
SYRIA
Demilitarized
buffer zone
Military zone closed by Israel
Reported Israeli military advances into buffer zone
GOLAN
HEIGHTS
Israel
Sea of
Galilee
SYRIA
JORDAN
10 miles
Area of detail
Lebanon
Demilitarized
buffer zone
Reported Israeli military advances into buffer zone
Military zone closed by Israel
Israel
GOLAN
HEIGHTS
SYRIA
Sea of
Galilee
SYRIA
JORDAN
10 miles
Area of detail