Israel's secret occupation of Syrian towns exposed by demolished neighbourhoods and military might

The National

5 days ago

Tourfa Ali and her husband, Eid, watched helplessly from a relative's house as Israeli tanks destroyed their home in Hamadieh, a town in southern Syria, a few weeks ago.
'We heard the sound of machinery and heavy vehicles in the neighbourhood,' Ms Ali recalled. Soon, word spread that the Israeli army was demolishing homes.
'I was terrified. At dawn, we went out to see – the whole neighbourhood was levelled. Not a single house was standing. That was our home, the harvest of a lifetime. People here have no income to rebuild,' she said.
The family is among 15 whose homes were destroyed on June 16 in Quneitra governorate. They were destroyed because they were near a newly established Israeli military base in a buffer zone in the occupied Golan Heights, according to residents and the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), a war monitor.
'This is the second time my house has been destroyed. The first time, Bashar Al Assad destroyed it. I rebuilt everything from scratch,' Mr Ali told The National. Hamadieh was part of a rebel‑held pocket that was shelled by government forces during the civil war.
'And now the Israelis came and destroyed it again.'
SNHR said the targeted area in Hamadieh is under the control of Syria's transitional government and denounced the demolition of Syrian homes as part of 'a pattern of violations' committed by Israeli authorities in southern Syria since the fall of the Assad regime in December, undermining efforts to establish stability.
Satellite imagery shows that, in addition to the one in Hamadieh, Israel has built several military bases in southern Syria, both inside and outside the UN buffer zone, an 80km strip of territory separating Syria and Israel since the 1973 Arab–Israeli war. Israeli forces invaded just hours after rebel groups toppled the Assad regime.
Theatrics of war
As millions of Syrians began celebrating the end of the Assad family's rule, residents of Hamadieh and other villages in the Golan Heights – a water‑rich territory overlooking northern Israel – were forced to flee their homes as the Israeli army moved into their towns.
Israel said it aimed to establish a 'sterile defence zone' in southern Syria to 'prevent the establishment and organisation of terror in Syria.'
In Hamadieh, residents told The National they were forced to flee, amid gunfire, smoke grenades and tanks.
Although the new Syrian authorities, led by former Al Qaeda-linked leader Ahmad Al Shara, insist that Syria does not seek conflict with its neighbours, Israel says it does not trust them.
Riad Kahwaji, a security analyst, said Israel aims to turn southern Syria into a demilitarised zone to counter Iran‑backed and other militant groups, as part of a more aggressive defence policy since Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel in 2023. 'Israel is trying to create a buffer zone in southern Syria free of population,' he explained.
After recent talks involving Syria and Israel, Mr Kahwaji said it appears Israel intends to remain in southern Syria for years, until it is confident the new Syrian government can make the area safe. Withdrawal terms, he added, would be set in future normalisation talks that would define final borders.
Mr Kahwaji added that the latest Israeli occupation also serves as a 'bargaining chip' in negotiations. 'The general belief is that Israel has seized new Syrian land so that future negotiations would focus solely on it.'
This would leave the Golan Heights, annexed by Israel in 1981, off the table and effectively accepted by Damascus as lost.
Mr Kahwaji thinks Israel's interventions in Syria, including strikes on Damascus and countless army positions since Mr Al Assad's removal, are driven as much by domestic politics as geopolitics, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's embattled government tying its survival to war.
'It's about waging wars to stay in power,' said Mr Kahwaji, who called the actions 'theatrics' to show that Israel is engaged on several fronts 'despite Damascus not firing a single bullet at Israel'.
A new reality
Hamadieh residents have lived in fear of Israeli forces for months, with arbitrary arrests, interrogations at a new military base, house raids, and patrols becoming part of their daily lives.
'At any moment, they could break into your house. They check IDs, take a full survey of the household, and record it all,' Mr Ali said.
But residents insisted that Hamadieh has not been home to armed groups. 'There is no Hamas or Hezbollah here. Israeli forces have raided all the houses and occupied the area; they would have known by now,' Mr Ali added.
Israeli forces have, in effect, gained total control over the area. They have blocked the main road to Hamadieh, forcing residents to take a long detour to reach the town.
Local officials in Hamadieh must request permission to carry out any repairs. Even to bury their dead, residents must ask Israel for permission to visit the cemetery.
Constant violence has left locals terrified to step outside. From her in-laws' rooftop, Ms Ali secretly looked at where her house once stood. She is afraid to stay too long in the open, worried that a soldier might catch her looking at what remains of her property.
Israeli forces have deployed outside the agreed buffer zone, marking a new boundary with a recently built earth barrier. The Israeli military has publicly acknowledged that it has deployed in 'a few additional points' beyond the buffer zone.
Lebanese security officials also claimed Israeli forces were quietly and gradually moving through areas of Syria near the Lebanese border. They reported that several Israeli troops have been recently deployed in Qatana, a strategic location about 30 kilometres north of the occupied Golan Heights, 20km south-west of Damascus and only 10km from Lebanon.
In Hamadieh, this has caused complete disruption of daily life. Israeli forces are occupying about four to six square kilometres of farmland outside the agreed buffer zone, according to Mr Ali.
'We can't access it, it's completely gone, no livestock, no farming, no land, nothing at all. They took all the land, they took the houses,' he said.
Residents said they never had issues with the Israelis under the Assad regime. Experts say that, rhetoric aside, Mr Al Assad was seen as a 'convenient neighbour' for Israel, who would not allow Iran -backed groups or missile fire from Syria into Israel.
'Israel recognised the benefit of having Assad, a member of Syria's minority, in control,' Mr Kahwaji said. Israel fears a strong Sunni-led government backed by Turkey, he added.
'This is why Israel is positioning itself as the protector of minorities, like the Druze and Kurds'.
'They want us to flee'
Khali Ali Hussein and his wife, Noura Sharafieh, recalled with horror being forced to flee their home on December 8, leaving with nothing, 'not even proper clothes.'
'The news was that the regime had fallen. We didn't rejoice, we couldn't celebrate. People thought the regime's fall would mark a new phase, a liberation. But for us, it was the start of a new problem,' she said.
She added that her son developed psychological trauma from the fear, and has not been able to speak properly since.
Israel destroyed their house, which was close to the new military base, and looted others, the couple recounted.
The family has since been living in an abandoned military facility from the Assad regime. The municipality allowed them to repair the building, and they have been staying until 'a solution is found'.
Official Salim Al Bakhit told The National that the government had surveyed the destruction and would 'help as much as we can with the available resources'.
'The situation is being followed up, and we will do everything possible to assist those affected,' he said.
But cash-strapped Syria, which faces a mammoth reconstruction bill, has scarce resources.
Hamadieh residents have been stuck in limbo for months, too poor to go elsewhere. For Mr Hussein, Syrians in the south are paying the price of Israeli expansionism.
'National security is an excuse; these are tactics. They are doing this to force us to migrate, so they can take the area,' he said.