Follow us on social

Israel Syria Golan Heights

Is Israel expanding territorial control toward Syria?

New construction along 1974 ceasefire line appears to be the latest in a string of aggressive moves by Tel Aviv

Analysis | Middle East

Beyond Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon, Israel now appears to have set its sights as well on the festering conflict with Syria, constructing developments in a critical buffer zone between the two countries in violation of a previous ceasefire agreement and sparking fears of further conflict escalation in the region.

Last week, the Associated Press published aerial footage of Israel building along the Alpha Line, which delineates a demilitarized zone or area of separation between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Images taken on November 5 by Planet Labs PBC for AP showed about 4.6 miles of construction by Israeli forces along the line.

“In recent months, [the UN Disengagement Observer Force] UNDOF has observed some construction activity being carried out by the IDF along the ceasefire line,” a UN peacekeeping spokesperson told RS. “The IDF construction of ditches and berms appears to prevent movements across the ceasefire line of individuals from the area of separation. UNDOF has observed that, during the construction, in some instances, IDF personnel and Israeli excavators and other construction equipment, and the construction work encroach into the area of separation.”

Such construction efforts, which the AP footage suggests is ongoing, were previously mentioned by Geir O. Pedersen, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria, to the UN Security Council late last month.

Israel, which presented a 71-page report alleging Syrian violations of the Alpha Line to the UN Security Council in June, says its construction efforts are necessary for defense. As the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) told CNN, such developments are intended “to establish a barrier on Israeli territory exclusively in order to thwart a possible terrorist invasion and protect the security of Israel’s borders.”

But fears persist that these developments could threaten a decades-long ceasefire agreement that has been key to maintaining relative peace between Israel and Syria, which have formally been at war since 1948. To uphold this ceasefire, UNDOF has patrolled the demilitarized zone since 1974.

“Violations of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement have occurred where engineering works have encroached into the AoS [Area of Separation, or demilitarized zone],” UNDOF said in a November 12 statement, according to AP. “There have been several violations by (Israel) in the form of their presence in the AoS because of these activities.”

Such “severe [Israeli] violations” around the demilitarized zone, UNDOF claimed, “have the potential to increase tensions in the area.”

A UN spokesperson also stressed to RS that “UNDOF protests all violations of the Disengagement Agreement.”

Territorial disputes between Syria and Israel remain a contentious subject. A 1981 UN Security Council resolution deemed Israel’s occupation of the Golan Heights territory — which Israel seized from Syria during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and annexed in 1981 — “null and void and without international legal effect.”

In contrast and sparking controversy among Syrians and myriad governments alike, the Trump administration recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights in 2019, a decision subsequently upheld by the Biden administration.

And now, developments in the Alpha Line area suggest that Israel intends to expand its territorial control.

“It is essential to see [ongoing Israeli developments near the Alpha Line] in the wider context of Israel’s constant attacks on targets in Syrian territory, especially since October 7, 2023, and its determination to take full advantage of the Syrian state’s weakness to advance the Netanyahu government’s Greater Israel agenda,” Giorgio Cafiero, the CEO of Gulf State Analytics, a Washington-based geopolitical risk consultancy, told RS.

“What Israel is doing is consolidating its hold over the occupied Golan Heights,” according to Josh Landis, a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute who chairs the Middle East Studies Department at the University of Oklahoma. In an interview with RS, he noted that there are about 25,000 Israeli settlers currently in the Golan Heights. “Over the last several years, there’s been a big effort to grow the settlements and increase by 5,000…the number of settlers in the [Golan Heights]. ...And so, Israel is expanding.”

Regional Israeli offensives intensify

The Alpha Line-area construction follows many Israeli incursions and assaults across the region since Hamas launched its deadly attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. This includes extended IDF airstrikes and ground operations in the Gaza Strip, which have killed over 43,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, to date. In addition to restricting Palestinians’ movements there, the IDF has also increased the number and scale of its attacks and raids on Palestinian towns and refugee camps in the West Bank, which several Israeli cabinet members have recently urged the government to fully annex.

Asserting itself over the border between Gaza and Egypt as well, the IDF took over the Rafah crossing last May, destroyed its departure hall, and established a military presence along the so-called Philadelphi Corridor that runs along the border. Israel insists these actions were designed to prevent weapons smuggling. For its part, Egypt, which has strongly objected to these operations and denied that any smuggling from its side of the border has taken place, has charged that Israel is using the issue to obstruct ceasefire negotiations.

Zooming out, Israel has increasingly attacked neighboring Lebanon as part of its war against Hezbollah, which has been engaging in its own rocket and missile attacks against Northern Israel since Oct. 7.

Israel's recent attacks in Lebanon include strikes on humanitarian zones, residential areas, villages, and pager bombings in September that killed 12 and wounded 2,800. Expanding ground operations, Israel is currently sending troops further into southern Lebanon in an intensifying military campaign to rout Hezbollah that has decimated villages close to the border. Israeli forces have also hit Lebanese Army facilities, and targeted UN peacekeepers and their bases in Lebanon, injuring UN staff and attacking UN-maintained watchtowers, fences, and other structures.

Although it has received little media coverage, Israel has also been striking Syria at an increased rate since October 7. On Nov 14, for example, Israeli aircraft bombed residential buildings in the Syrian capital Damascus, killing 15. On Wednesday, Israeli airstrikes killed upwards of 36 people in the Syrian city of Palmyra, according to Syrian state media.

Israel’s latest actions across the Alpha Line are taking place as Syria, itself recovering from over a decade of war, has taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing growing Israeli operations in Lebanon.

“Israel has been bombing Syria at least three times a week since October, so the ceasefire [between the two countries] is already threatened by this constant military activity,” Landis told RS.

Reporting to the UN Security Council last month, Pedersen stressed that the recent escalation could have dire consequences: “I want to issue a clear warning: regional spillover into Syria is alarming and could get much worse, with serious implications for Syria and international peace and security.”

Altogether, Israeli incursions of all kinds and against multiple targets risk greater escalation across the region. This is all made possible with continued U.S. assistance.

“This is a moment when (Netanyahu) is in the driver’s seat because the Biden administration has demonstrated it’s willing to back Israel in almost any military adventure in the region," noted Landis, "whether it’s an invasion of Lebanon or taking the Golan Heights, or endless war in Gaza.”


Top photo credit: Mount Bental Israel . The view to Syria With binoculars, this Israeli tin soldier looks towards Syria. The silhouette belongs to a monument on Mount Bental Golan Heights , which commemorates the battle for the volcanic peak during the 1973 Yom Kippur War (Schwenkenbecher via Reuters Connect)
Analysis | Middle East
Lockheed Martin
Top image credit: kiuikson via shutterstock.com

Wear the war machine with Lockheed Martin merch

Military Industrial Complex

I wrote a book about Lockheed Martin — the world’s largest arms-making conglomerate. But even I was surprised to learn that for a number of years now, they have also been involved in the fashion industry.

The revelation came in a recent New York Times piece on Kodak, which has had a minor resurgence, not by selling its own products, but by selling its name for use on a range of consumer products, produced by other firms, from luggage to eyewear to hoodies and t-shirts.

keep readingShow less
Kim Jong Un
Top photo credit: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits the construction site of the Ragwon County Offshore Farm, North Korea July 13, 2025. KCNA via REUTERS

Kim Jong Un is nuking up and playing hard to get

Asia-Pacific

President Donald Trump’s second term has so far been a series of “shock and awe” campaigns both at home and abroad. But so far has left North Korea untouched even as it arms for the future.

The president dramatically broke with precedent during his first term, holding two summits as well as a brief meeting at the Demilitarized Zone with the North’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. Unfortunately, engagement crashed and burned in Hanoi. The DPRK then pulled back, essentially severing contact with both the U.S. and South Korea.

keep readingShow less
Why new CENTCOM chief Brad Cooper is as wrong as the old one
Top photo credit: U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Brad Cooper speaks to guests at the IISS Manama Dialogue in Manama, Bahrain, November 17, 2023. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

Why new CENTCOM chief Brad Cooper is as wrong as the old one

Middle East

If accounts of President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iranian nuclear facilities this past month are to be believed, the president’s initial impulse to stay out of the Israel-Iran conflict failed to survive the prodding of hawkish advisers, chiefly U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Michael Kurilla.

With Kurilla, an Iran hawk and staunch ally of both the Israeli government and erstwhile national security adviser Mike Waltz, set to leave office this summer, advocates of a more restrained foreign policy may understandably feel like they are out of the woods.

keep readingShow less

LATEST

QIOSK

Newsletter

Subscribe now to our weekly round-up and don't miss a beat with your favorite RS contributors and reporters, as well as staff analysis, opinion, and news promoting a positive, non-partisan vision of U.S. foreign policy.