Why is Israel's military presence growing in Syria?
The recent Israeli attack on a Syrian airbase is just one of many Israeli incursions into Syria. In southern Syria, locals say Israeli troops have detained them, destroyed infrastructure and set up military bases.
In Syria, Israel's military presence has been expanding over the past two years. This growth began with the Israeli army taking a 17-year-old Syrian boy, Saddam, from his farmland near the Golan Heights in April 2024. Saddam's father, Ahmad Hassan al-Din, filmed the incident and claims the soldiers took his son because he was trespassing on Israeli territory, despite it being his farmland and the area having a valid UN permit.
UNDOF, which oversees the buffer zone, could not confirm Saddam's whereabouts as of writing. Since Saddam's abduction, similar stories have surfaced from other Syrian families. Following the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, Israel took control of the demilitarized zone and declared the 1974 agreement void. Since then, Israeli soldiers have been conducting near-daily incursions into Syrian provinces of Daraa and Quneitra, searching civilians, seizing livestock, and destroying infrastructure.
Since December 2024, around 200 Syrians have been detained by Israel, with 40-50 remaining in Israeli prisons. Human rights organizations have labeled Israel's actions as possible war crimes.
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