Israel Declares War on Syria…Again

During the Syrian civil war, Israel fought a cat-and-mouse game with Hezbollah, which had sought to use southern Syria as a launching ground for missile attacks on Israel. This was part of the Lebanese militia’s military strategy to open a new front in its war against Israel.

Israel responded by forming an alliance with the former al Qaeda affiliate in Syria, Al -Nusra. It armed and supplied the group, admitted it’s wounded fighters to Israeli medical facilities and created camps in the Israeli occupied Golan for families of al Nusra fighters. Periodically, the IDF sent armed patrols into Syrian territory.

Al-Nusra had once been affiliated with al-Qaeda.  The former then morphed into HTS (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham), the group which toppled Assad and now rules Syria.  How ironic that Israel’s new sworn foe was once its sworn ally.  How things change when you’re a cynical, manipulative, domineering country.

Israel’s geo-strategic calculations changed on the day that  overran Damascus and overthrew Bashar al-Assad. He was the single unifying force in the country. His funding of the army and alliances with Russia and Iran reinforced his authority.  The regime was a house of cards which fell as soon as it faced a serious internal threat.

Without Assad, Israel saw a golden opportunity to advance it’s own geostrategic interests in Syria. It quickly crossed the armistice line, unilaterally abrogated the treaty, and invaded the country, advancing 10 miles inside its borders. It was the first such incursion since 1973.  It quickly declared it would not withdraw from the new territory it held. This occupied enclave brought it within 30 miles of Damascus, the capital.  Local residents complained about the impact it had on their lives:

Syrian citizens in and near the demilitarised zone have complained of Israeli encroachment on their land as well as checkpoints, unauthorised arrests, housing raids, and road closures.

Despite the world’s refusal to recognize Israel’s prior annexation of the Syrian Golan, this time it responded with a yawn.  No one other than Ahmed al-Sharaa, the new Syrian leader, protested this violation of Syrian sovereignty.  Yet another example of Israel trampling on the the territorial integrity of its neighbors with impunity.  It added that it would attack any Syrian security forces seeking to establish control of its own territory in the south:

Any attempt by Syrian regime forces or terrorist organizations in the country to establish a foothold in the security zone of southern Syria will be met with fire.

Adding insult to injury, Israel responded to the new government’s initiative to strengthen the Syrian unity, an national dialogue summit, by launching a massive assault on its security forces. It essentially declared war on the new Syrian state. It killed local residents and injured others:

Now, yesterday, following…[the] summit, the Syrian government condemned Israel’s invasion of its land and asked for them to withdraw from its land. How did Israel respond? By launching an onslaught against Syria.

The southern Syrian population is largely Druze, and but with Christian and other minority sects as well. This holds true in Jaramana, a suburb of Damascus, which Israel attacked over the past week.

It justified the attack by claiming it was protecting the Druze who were attacked by forces of the new government. This is a lie. Druze residents report that government troops entered the village in order to visit their families there. At a checkpoint, Druze militia stopped them and told them they just leave their weapons in order to enter. They did and s their bus drove away a renegade gang fired on them, killing one and wounding several others.

In other words, there was no attack by the government on the village. Like governments do when they intend to go to war and look for an excuse to do so, this was z manufactured incident designed to promote Israeli domination of the South:

The interim Syrian government’s security forces just raised the Druze flag in Jaramana. Nobody is falling for Israeli’s propaganda on Syria, which spectacularly is identical to that of the Axis of Resistance. How little people understand Syria and Syrians is being widely exposed. https://t.co/WYE0YJiEdc pic.twitter.com/n5VHDMqNOK

— Reem Rifai (@ReemRifai_) March 2, 2025

I was there three weeks ago and there are Sunnis, Kurds and Alawites who live there as well. There were no tensions between the Druze and the HTS security officials there at that time.

— Amberin Zaman (@amberinzaman) March 1, 2025

Israel sowed disinformation under cover of claims it was protecting local Druze from terrorist infringement of their rights:

…Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz…instructed the IDF to…protect the Druze settlement of Damascus [Jaramana]…attacked by Syrian regime forces: If the regime hurts the Druze – we will attack the it. We will not allow the extreme Islamic terrorist regime in Syria to harm the Druze.

…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.

Everything in this statement is a lie.  There was no attack on the village.  The government is not “an extreme Islamic terrorist regime.” Its intent is not to “harm the Druze,” but to include it in a new multi-ethnic state.  One which Israel views as a threat on its northern front.  Israel does not treat its Druze citizens as “brothers,” despite its fighting valiantly in all of Israel’s wars.  The Nation State law in effect treated the Druze as second class citizens who would lose its status as respected domestic Arab allies of the State.

The Israeli media obediently parrot the government’s (fraudulent) line:

Some Syrian Druze form a militia, even declaring allegiance to Israel, as the new regime under al-Sharaa raises fears that the community will lose its autonomy and rights – all the while, Israel has extended a brotherly hand in southern Syria@_biancazanini reports pic.twitter.com/gAsgG38gJ7

— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) February 26, 2025

Yes, the ever-loyal Druze have welcomed the invader with open arms.  Thus liberating them from the clutches of the Islamist terrorists seeking to destroy them and their way of life.  It’s an absolute fraud.

The Israeli policy Netanyahu and Katz announced above serves several important strategic interests: it asserts that the Druze are an Israeli proxy (as al-Nusra once was) in the South, preventing any insurgent forces from attacking Israeli troops or launching raises against Israel itself. Israel will cultivate, supply and arm Druze, who will serve as its militia proxy. These new armed gangs will also guarantee that the Druze will not make common cause with the new government in its efforts to create a unified state.

By declaring it entered Syria to protect Druze “brothers” from assault by Islamist terrorists, Israel distracts the world from the reality that it is a state which flouts international law and uses force to violate its neighbors sovereignty and impose its will by military force.  That is the truth. The rest is smoke and mirrors.

Israel used the same divide and conquer strategy in southern Lebanon, when it created the South Lebanese army as a buffer against Hezbollah. That ended when Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 2000.  It repeated this stratagem by offering critical support to both Hezbollah and Hamas when they were founded, thereby serving as a countervailing force against the PLO.  This served to splinter the Palestinian resistance and weaken its ability to confront Israel–until they became strong enough to become Israel’s most lethal enemies.

Israel’s interests in Syria are served by a weak, factionalized country in which various sects have carved out zones–or spheres of influence to use a phrase from the colonialist era–and compete with others for territory, resources, dominance. This guarantees that the country never becomes strong enough to unite and face Israel head to head:

With ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon, an all out war on Palestinians in West Bank, Israel has opened another front, with extensive bombing in Syria – completely unprovoked. Hard not to see it as an effort to sew chaos and provoke a response…

Israel just asked the Trump administration to reinstate major Russian military bases and invite its forces to return to the country.  This is yet another attempt to add a new party, and set of competing interest into the country.  Israel sees the Russians as a counter to Turkey’s influence in the north and its crucial support for HTS and the new government:

Israel is lobbying the United States to keep Syria weak and decentralised, including by letting Russia keep its military bases there to counter Turkey’s growing influence in the country, four sources familiar with the efforts said.

Turkey’s often fraught ties with Israel have come under severe strain during the Gaza war and Israeli officials have told Washington that Syria’s new Islamist rulers, who are backed by Ankara, pose a threat to Israel’s borders, the sources said.

As Syria appeals to US and western nations to remove it from the terror sanctions list, in order to attract foreign investment to rebuild the country, Israel is intervening in the debate. Its goal is to prevent such reconstruction and maintain the status quo of a decimated country with no functioning infrastructure.

A-Sharaa, the state’s new leader, has a difficult road ahead, forging consensus among divided and competing constituencies like Alawite, Sunni,  Druze, Kurds, and Christians, in order to unify the nation. He must navigate carefully between two parties occupying it’s territory, Turkie and Israel, as well as determine what his country’s relations will be with Lebanon and the remnants of Hezbollah. An unenviable web of  strategic issues face him. Israel will be one of the biggest.

Israel’s full-frontal attack on Syria is an existential crisis for the new regime.  It directly contradicts its efforts to create a united, multi-ethnic state:

I would not be surprised if Syria rebuilds relations with other former enemies in the long-term, including eventually Iran. The current attacks are calling into question its survival in its current form and every step necessary will likely be considered.