It’s the last week before Israel’s elections, and the concern around Syria that there may be a pre-election “surprise” seems palpable. The belief is that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu may seek to politically benefit from a new operation within southern Syria in the next few days.
And while Israel’s ongoing military operations in Syria are restricted mainly to the Daraa and Quneitra Governorates adjacent to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Syrian officials seem to see the most likely new offensive to be further east, in Suwayda Governorate.
Suwayda is home to a substantial part of Syria’s Druze minority, and their religious leadership is conspicuously aligned with Israel. There have been clashes there over the past week, and with Netanyahu having established a policy of supporting the Druze, it seems to many the most obvious site for an outbreak of “new” Israeli-related operations in Syria. That Israeli warplanes were overflying Suwayda only yesterday further adds to the speculation.
Israeli artillery fires on fields in Syria’s Quneitra Governorate | Image from SOHR
It’s not merely Syria’s government getting jumpy, either. Multiple activists and organizations issued a joint statement condemning ongoing Israeli operations in Quneitra, and calling for major Friday protests in major Syrian cities with the slogan “Southern Syria is not a stage for your elections.”
So far, Israel doesn’t appear to have announced any such operations at all, though their Daraa and Quneitra operations seem to be on an uptick, with a joint UN-Red Cross delegation visiting Jamlah, a Daraa town, to hear from farmers who are being restricted from accessing their farmland by the IDF.
In Quneitra, Israeli tanks were seen operating near what was once the governor’s office in Quneitra City, and Israeli artillery continued to hit the countryside in the area of Tel al-Ahmar. No casualties were reported.
Israeli patrols routinely enter southwestern Syria several times a day, sometimes establishing temporary military checkpoints and other times raiding towns and capturing locals. Israel is presently holding at least 49 Syrian civilians from such detentions, and on what basis they’re being held or what condition they are in remains unknown.
