How Israel emerged as major threat to Syria's post-Assad future

It’s been one year since Syrian rebels launched a new military offensive that days later led to the overthrow of the Assad regime, a campaign that few saw coming. The historical event provided hope for an end to systemic corruption and oppression in Syria.

While the jury is still out on whether the new regime in Damascus has altered these authoritarian norms for good, there is faith that Syria is at least on the path to a more free, stable, and accountable form of governance. These are, after all, essential components for the healing and rebuilding of the country.

Nevertheless, the situation in the south remains in stasis, with the limited reach of the government and regular attacks by Israeli forces resulting in a pervasive sense of insecurity and hopelessness. On Friday, a firefight between another Israeli patrol invading the area and armed locals erupted in Beit Jinn, and resulted in the deaths of at least 13 people after an Apache helicopter fired on the village in the Damascus countryside.

Predictably, Israel has tried to control the narrative by inventing an imaginary enemy, claiming they were intervening against the Islamic State, an organisation that has no real record of targeting Israel from Syria and are not known to be present in the area, after the defeat of an affiliate in the Yarmouk Basin region.

This latest episode in violence was an almost exact repeat of a similar incident that occurred in April near Nawa, in the Daraa province, when an Israeli chopper and artillery fired into a group of locals. Nine people were killed as a result.

Rising up against oppressors

I visited the site two days after the massacre, the scene still littered with the torn shoes and rucksacks of the unfortunate victims, and pot holes and shrapnel of Israeli missiles were all around. As a result, locals were paralysed by uncertainty and paranoia, some carrying AK-47s and pistols, anticipating another assault from the Israelis who had come within 5km of the town centre.

At a commemoration for the victims at a local security base, the family of the deceased greeted lines of mourners who had gathered from surrounding areas to pay their respects, some vowing to fend off any future Israeli incursions.

The people of Daraa were in fact some of the first to rise up against the murderous Assad regime, and had fought successive waves of assaults from Syrian, Russian, and Iranian forces.

The levelled buildings and deep deprivation that pervades the south west was testimony to their determination to live in freedom. And this is demonstrated by their regular clashes with Israeli forces. They are utterly unfazed by the expansionist ambitions of another regional superpower.

One father I spoke to at the funeral had lost his son in the fighting in April, and had seen four more of his children killed during the Assad regime’s decade-long offensive in Daraa.

It would be presumptuous to say that death had become a normality here, but it struck me how everyone had lost relatives in the war.

No peace, just hegemony

There appears to be a pattern to the Israeli attacks that tend to begin with skirmishes, and result in much bigger bloodshed, often including civilians. Due to the insecurity that pervades the area (partly because of frequent periodic Israeli raids that limit the reach of the General Security) many people leaving town carry light arms for protection.

Israeli raiding parties appear unannounced, leading to clashes with groups of startled young men who fight for their lives and make desperate calls to friends and family in town, who all race to the site in support.

Israeli forces then make similar calls for reinforcements with helicopter gunships or artillery positioned in the hills above, firing missiles, bullets, or shells at the helpless defenders below.

This is a deliberate policy of confrontation by Israel, that seeks to create a perpetual sense of insecurity in the south, and sap at the will of the government in Damascus. The ultimate aim of all this is Israeli hegemony in the region, which includes stealing more Syrian land.

I saw no evidence of Israel’s ludicrous claims that Iran-backed groups were present - militias who had fought and killed thousands of people in the area and are despised by most locals - and the only weapons I saw were rifles.

 

 

 

 

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With every outpost established and town bombed, Israel believes it has another bargaining chip in future negotiations with the new Syrian government. However, comments from Israeli officials indicate that there is no appetite for peace, for example Defence Minister Israel Katz recently stated: “Israel is not moving toward peace with Syria because there are forces within its borders thinking about invading Golan towns”.

Not to mention, the invasions are just another de-facto land grab.

Hope?

Despite the bloodshed and heartbreak during the Syria war – which also served as a theatre for proxy powers, with Israel extending its hegemony through thousands of airstrikes from Raqqa to Quneitra – there was also the belief, whether among activists or rebels, that they were fighting for a better future.

Amidst all the periodic eruptions of violence, Syria still appears to be moving toward a better future. With a marked decline in chronic corruption, public services slowly improving, and the suspension of Caesar sanctions, there is hope that the country can return to a level of normality.

Indeed, Israel has always used the issue of ‘security’ as a warrant for its illegal actions in the region, but with the defeat of the Assad regime, and the exodus of Iranian-backed entities, there are no more excuses for continued interventions into Syria. Every incursion must therefore be understood as provocation that breaks international law.

The continued presence of Israeli troops in the occupied territories in the south serves as an omnipotent and malevolent force that seeks to maintain anarchy in the area.

Who would open a factory in Daraa if it could be destroyed in an airstrike the following day? And what child can pursue their education in peace, when artillery pieces are aimed on your town?

The only benefactors of such a nebulous future are the smugglers and bandits who the Syrian regime used in order to keep the people in check

The Syrians I met were exhausted from 14 years of war, and relished the prospect of peace to rebuild their obliterated homes and infrastructure, but the raison d’être of Israel’s march in the south is to ensure this does not happen.

Paul McLoughlin is the Head of News and writer of Syria Insight at The New Arab. 

Follow him on X: @PaullMcLoughlin

Have questions or comments? Email us at: editorial-english@newarab.com

Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.