Israeli Military Construction in Syria Raises Fear of Prolonged Occupation of South

Two civilians arrested, several wounded by Israeli gunfire in Quneitra

On Friday, Israeli soldiers inside the newly occupied part of the Golan Heights came under fire. There were no injuries, but it may be a sign of growing unrest over the new occupations within the southern Quneitra and Daraa Governorates of Syria.

Those concerns are only growing in recent days, with the Washington Post reporting new satellite images from Planet Labs show that Israel is engaged in military construction within southern Syria. They are believed to be building new military outposts.

More than half a dozen structures are reportedly already being assembled. The mayor of newly occupied Jubata al-Khassab asked the question likely on the minds of many residents, “they are building military bases. How is that temporary?”

Map of latest situation in Syria from Southfront.press

After the regime change in Syria in December, Israeli invaded the demilitarized zone between Syria and the occupied Golan Heights and occupied that as well. They have moved beyond the demilitarized zone by several miles in some cases, taking even more territory.

Israel was insisting that these newest invasions are nominally temporary, but have since provided no timetable for ever actually leaving. Last week Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz termed the occupation of southern Syria to be continuing “indefinitely.”

That’s what a lot of the people who live there are worried about, and the reports of Israeli troops opening fire on civilians and arresting them in Quneitra Governorate only adds to the concerns. Asked about reports of firing on civilians, the IDF insisted everything was within “standard operating procedures” and that they asked the civilians to leave before shooting them.

Though the new Sunni Islamist-dominated government in Syria has objected to Israel’s occupations, they don’t appear to be prepared to do anything about it. Locals, however, have reportedly formed a group calling itself the Islamic Resistance Front in Syria (IRFS), which intends to resist both the Israeli occupation and the al-Qaeda-linked ruling party.

The IRFS reportedly has made statements claiming credit for the Friday shooting effort. Details about that cannot be confirmed. IRFS is reportedly a Shi’ite majority faction, and was known during the Syrian Civil War as the “Southern Liberation Front.”

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.