Among the towns and villages impacted by Israel’s incursions into southwest Syria, few have had more problems than Jabata al-Khashab. The village, in northern Quneitra Governorate, is within the UNDOF demilitarized zone and subsequently is de facto occupied by the Israeli military, who seized much of the UNDOF zone starting at the end of 2024.
The village has seen regular incursions by Israeli forces, detaining civilians, establishing intermittent checkpoints, and leveling acres of pine trees from the nearby forests. Yesterday, IDF troops shot a young disabled man from the village and detained him for a few hours, before eventually returning him without explanation.
The more immediate concern for villagers isn’t just the Israeli military coming and going, but the Israeli military’s constructions giving the impression at some point, they’re not going to be going at all. Substantial fortifications have been established along the west edge of the village, including observation posts and trenches.
Israeli troops raise the flag over Hadr, Quneitra Governorate | Image from SOHR
Jabata al-Khashab isn’t all that far from the occupied Golan Heights, so Israeli construction there wouldn’t be so unusual, but reportedly Israel has been pushing eastward from where that boundary used to be, the UNDOF Alpha line established in 1974, with Israel pushing it in some cases as much as a kilometer deeper into Syrian territory.
In some places, that’s less noticeable, apart from farmers having a harder time circumventing the barriers to access their land. Jabata al-Khashab, however, now finds itself with fortifications going up just along the tree line, and the agriculture workers there report that leaving town and getting to their fields is getting harder and harder.
The biggest challenge is all this is being done without any negotiation on the boundary, and is rather the IDF unilaterally changing where the border between Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and the also Israeli-occupied UNDOF zone actually is, and while Syria and other nations have criticized the move, in practice little is being done to prevent Israel from just declaring that land the new border.
Meanwhile, even further into Quneitra, where seemingly there should be no question which side of the border one is on, IDF troops continue to regularly raid villages, search home and interrogate locals. The IDF has also shelled Swiesha village, in southern Quneitra, and has yet to issue a statement explaining why.
