While claiming talks with the Syrian government were progressing, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the idea of withdrawing from any of the territory Israel has captured during its invasion of Syria that started in December 2024.
Netanyahu said the idea of withdrawing from the buffer zone, which was meant to be a demilitarized zone since 1974, was “a joke.” Israeli officials have repeatedly insisted territory taken in the buffer zone, including Mount Hermon, would be kept.
Though Netanyahu seemed a bit more upbeat about the talks, recently Israeli officials have suggested they had stalled, and were pushing a deal that would create a new buffer zone deeper into Syria while forcing Syria to make numerous other concessions.
Israel took credit for the regime change in Syria last year, but invaded more or less immediately thereafter. Locals in the Quneitra Governorate are reporting that their homes were demolished by Israeli military bulldozers, new Israeli military outposts were built, and provincial courthouses are covered by Hebrew-language graffiti left by the soldiers.
Reports out of the adjacent Daraa Governorate today have Israeli troops in vehicles entering the villages of Maariya and Abidin and approached the oft-raided village of Kouya. No shots were fired, according to locals.
During a previous invasion of Kouya, one of the elders reported that Israeli troops had told them they had to abide by unspecified conditions, and said if they didn’t, they would count the number of homes in the village and give them that many tents.
