Israel’s government  approved a plan to double its population in the Golan Heights following the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the move was needed as a “new front” had opened up on Israel’s border with Syria an Islamist-led rebel alliance seized power in the Middle Eastern country. 

“Strengthening the Golan is strengthening the State of Israel, and it is especially important at this time. We will continue to hold onto it, cause it to blossom, and settle in it,” Mr Netanyahu said in a statement.

History Of The Golan Heights Dispute

The Golan Heights is an area of 1,800 square kilometres on the Israel-Syria border. Israel captured most of the strategic plateau from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War, annexing it in 1981. Although only about two-thirds of what is known as the Golan Heights is under Israel’s control, it manages the most strategic points.

The Golan is home to 24,000 Druze– an Arab minority who practice an offshoot of Islam– most of whom identify as Syrian, according to analyst Avraham Levine of the Alma Research and Education Center. 

Over the years, some 31,000 Israelis have also settled in the area, Mr Levine, who specialises in Israel’s security challenges on its northern border, was quoted as saying by news agency Reuters. 

In 2019, the then- US President Donald Trump declared American support for Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, but the annexation has not been recognised by most countries. Syria demands Israel withdraw but Israel refuses, citing security concerns. Over the years, various peace efforts have failed in the region. 

In the days following Mr Assad’s ouster, Israeli forces entered a buffer zone separating Syria from the Golan Heights, saying the change of leadership in Damascus meant ceasefire arrangements had “collapsed”.

Mr Netanyahu said he spoke to incoming US President Trump about the latest security developments in Syria. “We have no interest in a conflict with Syria,” the Israeli Prime Minister said in a statement. 

Israeli actions in Syria were intended to “thwart the potential threats from Syria and to prevent the takeover of terrorist elements near our border,” he added.

According to Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz, the latest developments in Syria increased the threat to Israel, “despite the moderate image that the rebel leaders claim to present”.

Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office said the government unanimously approved a more than 40-million-shekel ($11 million) plan to encourage demographic growth in the Golan. It said the Prime Minister submitted the plan to the government “in light of the war and the new front-facing Syria, and out of a desire to double the population of the Golan”.

Reactions Of Other Stakeholders

Syria’s de facto leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa aka Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, said on Saturday that Israel was using false pretexts to justify its attacks on Syria, but he was not interested in engaging in new conflicts as his country focuses on rebuilding.

Neighbouring Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates also condemned Israel’s decision, with the UAE – which normalised relations with Israel in 2020 – describing it as a “deliberate effort to expand the occupation”.

Germany also urged Israel to “abandon” a plan to double the population living in the occupied and annexed Golan Heights at the southwestern edge of Syria. Germany’s foreign ministry spokesman said, “it is perfectly clear under international law that this area controlled by Israel belongs to Syria and that Israel is therefore an occupying power”.

Situation In Syria

Mr Sharaa leads the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that swept President Assad from power last Sunday, ending the family’s five-decade iron-fisted rule. “Syria’s war-weary condition, after years of conflict and war, does not allow for new confrontations. The priority at this stage is reconstruction and stability, not being drawn into disputes that could lead to further destruction,” he said, according to a Reuters report.

Mr Sharaa also said diplomatic solutions were the only way to ensure security and stability and that “uncalculated military adventures” were not wanted.

Since Me Asaad’s ouster, Israel has moved into a demilitarised zone inside Syria that was created after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, including the Syrian side of the strategic Mount Hermon that overlooks Damascus, where its forces took over an abandoned Syrian military post.

Israel, which has said that it does not intend to stay there and calls the incursion into Syrian territory a limited and temporary measure to ensure border security, has also carried out hundreds of strikes on Syria’s strategic weapons stockpiles. It has said it is destroying weapons and military infrastructure to prevent them from being used by rebel groups that drove Assad from power, some of which grew from movements linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.

Several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, have condemned what they called Israel’s seizure of a buffer zone in the Golan Heights.