Tel Aviv, December 15, 2024: Israel’s government has approved a plan to encourage the expansion of settlements in the occupied Golan Heights. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the move was necessary due to the emergence of a “new front” along Israel’s border with Syria following the fall of the Assad regime to an Islamist-led rebel alliance.
Netanyahu expressed plans to double the population of the Golan Heights, which Israel captured during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered illegally occupied under international law. In the aftermath of Assad’s departure, Israeli forces moved into a buffer zone between the Golan Heights and Syria, claiming that the change in control in Damascus had caused ceasefire arrangements to collapse.
There are currently over 30 Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights, housing around 20,000 settlers, alongside approximately 20,000 Syrians, primarily Druze Arabs, who remained when the area came under Israeli control. Netanyahu reiterated that Israel would continue to maintain and develop the territory.
This announcement follows Syria’s new de-facto leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa’s, criticism of Israel’s ongoing airstrikes on military targets in Syria. According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), over 450 Israeli airstrikes have been carried out in Syria since December 8, with 75 of them occurring since Saturday evening. Al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, condemned the strikes as a violation of red lines, but emphasized that Syria was not seeking conflict with neighboring countries.
Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) defended the airstrikes, claiming they were necessary to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of extremists. Al-Sharaa, the leader of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), is part of a coalition of rebel groups forming a transitional government in Syria following the capture of Damascus on December 8.
In related news, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed that the U.S. had made direct contact with HTS, which remains designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and other Western governments. UN Syria envoy Geir Pedersen expressed hopes for a quick end to sanctions to help Syria’s economic recovery. Additionally, Turkey’s Defence Minister Yasar Guler stated that Ankara was ready to offer military support to Syria’s new government, depending on its future actions.
