By Andrea Tucci,
Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024, Israel carried out repeated attacks on its neighbor’s territory. A telling example came on the night of Feb. 25 to 26, when Israeli fighter jets launched a series of airstrikes targeting military positions in southern Syria, including near Damascus and in Daraa Province.
All this took place as the National Dialogue Conference, intended to lay the groundwork for an inclusive political transition, was coming to a close.
Two days earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the complete demilitarization of southern Syria in the provinces of Quneitra, Deraa and Sweida.
These demands go beyond the boundaries of the “disengagement zone” that Israel has occupied for more than two months. This demilitarized strip territory, is located between most of the Golan Heights that is occupied by Israel in 1967 and illegally annexed in 1981.
Since the fall of the Assad regime, the Israeli army has established at least seven fortified bases in the demilitarized zone on the Syrian side of the border, from the Syrian slopes of Mount Hermon to Tel Kudna, passing through Hadar, Jubata al-Khashab, Hamidiyah, Quneitra and Qahtaniyah.
Now, the threat of an Israeli advance as far as southern Damascus looms over the country. This is reflected in recent calls from Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, who urged the Israeli army to prepare to “defend a Druze village in southern Syria” after Syrian forces launched a security operation in the area amid growing tensions with armed Druze groups.
The new government in Syria made bringing weapons back under state control one of its main short-term national objectives.
In a statement, Netanyahu and Katz said that if the regime attacks the Druze, they will be the ones to strike back.
“We are committed to our Druze brothers in Israel to do everything to prevent harm to their Druze brothers in Syria, and we will take all the steps required to maintain their safety,” the statement read.
These recent Israeli threats draw on a well-known rhetoric employed by Israel based on the so-called “alliance of minorities.” In order to undermine the Palestinian question, Israel has historically also developed a discourse aimed at ethnicizing, the Palestinian Druze communities and those in the occupied Golan, with the goal of detaching them from their Arab identity and environment.
The strategic foundation of Israel’s decision cannot be justified in terms of security concerns or on the basis of some kind of ‘right to protect’ minorities in Syria. The truth is that these measures are incredibly destabilizing for Syria, and all efforts to rebuild the country after decades of authoritarian rule are threatened by these extremely reckless initiatives.
In Syria, Israel relies on two main tools: Military interventions through airstrikes or the seizure of land in the south, near the former buffer zone and a form of soft power by instrumentalizing minorities to weaken the current Syrian government.
Israel’s policy toward Syria raises questions, especially as the new strongman in Damascus, Ahmad al-Sharaa, adopted a moderate tone regarding Israel upon taking power, referring to it as a “state” rather than the “Zionist entity” and emphasizing his desire to avoid conflicts with neighboring countries, including Israel.
Since the fall of the Assad regime, Israel’s strategy appears to revolve around three main pillar. This includes strengthening its national security, justified by concerns over the potential resurgence of armed groups linked to Iran; controlling key corridors such as the Damascus-Quneitra and Khan Arnaba–al-Khashab–Golan Heights routes; and securing mountain passes at the foot of Mount Hermon.
By bolstering its presence in southern Syria, Israel is also seeking to carry out preemptive strikes on military targets without resorting to large-scale ground operations. This approach is aiming to reduce long-term security risks.
Israel’s hubris following the fall of the regime is fueled both by the weakness of the Syrian state and by the triumphant return of Trump. This is evidenced by the U.S. shift in favor of Russia on the Ukraine issue and the choice of an already deeply pro-Israel stance on the Palestinian question.
With the ongoing U.S.-Russia rapprochement marks a clear break, that Israel is trying to exploit, particularly in Syria.
And while the White House is now open to a detente with Moscow, Reuters reported at the end of February that Israel is trying to persuade its closest ally to keep Syria in a state of weakness and decentralization, notably by allowing Russia to maintain its military bases in Latakia and Tartus to counter Turkey’s growing influence in the country.
As Syrians slowly embark on the path of political transition, that process risks being taken hostage by the games of regional powers, starting with Israel.
