The Golan Heights is a 1,000-square-mile rocky plateau in the southwestern corner of Syria, bordering Israel, Lebanon, and Jordan, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) from Damascus, but its importance is much greater than that, and always has been. A political flashpoint for decades.
Israel has occupied the Golan Heights since the 1980s, and its forces now occupy the demilitarized buffer zone in response to the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s brutal dictatorship in Syria.
Troops have also deployed outside the demilitarized buffer zone and into Syrian territory, with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz saying Israeli forces have been ordered to establish a “sterile defense zone” in southern Syria, adding that they would not retain a permanent presence. Israel has previously described reports from Syrian sources that it had breached the buffer zone as “false.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a news conference in Jerusalem that Israel’s control of the heights “ensures our security and sovereignty,” adding that “the Golan Heights will always be part of the state of Israel.” ”.
Israel’s cabinet has now unanimously agreed to Mr Netanyahu’s $11m (£8.7m) plan to increase the population of the Golan Heights by one amid potential security risks after Bashar Assad is driven out of Syria times.
His office said the money would be used for education, renewable energy, student villages and plans to absorb new residents.
The move sparked condemnation across the region and the United Nations. here, independent Explains why Israel considers the Golan Heights so important.
Why does Israel occupy the Golan Heights?
It was occupied by Israeli forces in 1967 during the Six-Day War, a brief conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Syrian Arab residents fled the area during the conflict, and then armistice lines were drawn and the area was placed under the control of Israeli forces. Settlers began moving into the Golan Heights almost immediately.
Israeli military vehicles cross the fence and head towards the buffer zone with Syria, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights (AFP via Getty Images)
Fourteen years of military rule followed, including Syria’s failed attempt to retake the Golan Heights in 1973. Unilaterally annexed the region in 1981.
In December of the same year, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 497, declaring that the Golan Heights remained an occupied territory and that legal annexation was “invalid and has no international legal effect.”
More than 40 years later, the entire international community – except the United States and Israel – considers the Golan Heights to be Syrian territory under Israeli occupation. In 2019, the United States recognized the Golan Heights as Israeli sovereign territory during Donald Trump’s first term, becoming the only country to do so.
Israeli soldiers are stationed near the so-called Alpha Line in the town of Majdal Shams, which separates the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights from Syria.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said the decision to take over the territory was taken on Sunday to protect its civilians. Israel later told the U.N. Security Council it was taking “limited and temporary” measures to deal with threats to its security.
The move was condemned by regional powers including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Türkiye.
Reports from Syrian sources claimed that Israel had violated Syrian territory outside the occupied Golan Heights, just 25 kilometers from the Syrian capital Damascus, but Israel strongly refuted this, saying that its forces remained “within the buffer zone.”
Why is Israel so interested in the Golan Heights?
The approximately 23,000 Druze, mostly considered Arabs, did not flee the land during the 1967 war and currently live alongside 30 Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights.
Israeli military vehicles pass through the fence as they return from the buffer zone with Syria (AFP via Getty Images)
In 2021, Israel vowed to double the number of Jewish settlers in the Golan Heights within five years, approving the construction of 7,300 housing units in the area to bring in an additional 23,000 settlers. Naftali Bennett, Israel’s far-right prime minister at the time, told the cabinet: “There is no doubt that the Golan belongs to Israel.”
The area is of strategic military importance. When Syria controlled the heights between 1948 and 1967, it would use it as a vantage point for shelling northern Israel. The top of the plateau has views as far as Damascus and overlooks much of southern Syria, allowing Israel to monitor Syrian movements and making Syrian military operations against Israel difficult.
The Golan also has fertile land and is an important source of water in the arid region.
The Syrian regime has previously sought a peace deal with Israel that called for a complete withdrawal to pre-1967 borders and the dismantling of all Israeli settlements.
