Israel’s demilitarization demand tests Syria’s shaky government
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Israel’s demand for the demilitarization of southern Syria near its border presents a severe challenge for the country’s new rulers, who three months ago brought down the Assad family’s regime.
Israel launched airstrikes late Tuesday at targets south of Damascus that it said contained weapons or command centres, just days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech that the area must be completely disarmed and that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the rebel group that took over the government, wouldn’t be allowed in areas of southern Syria near the Israeli border. The demands and airstrikes reflected Israel’s new calculus after the Oct.
7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks that left 1,200 dead and shook the Middle East. Analysts say the country is seeking to create buffer zones along its borders to prevent similar attacks.
Yet they also put Syria’s new government in a bind, forcing it to choose between confronting a much stronger Israel or surrendering control of some of its territory. Either option risks destabilizing a transition in which the government must convince other rebel and sectarian groups that it is able to lead the country.
Tuesday’s attacks came hours after Syria’s government reacted to Netanyahu’s demands by condemning the Israeli army’s seizure of territory and demanding its immediate withdrawal. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the air force is “vigorously attacking southern Syria as part of the new policy we have defined of demilitarization." “We will not allow southern Syria to become southern Lebanon," Katz said, voicing a concern that the territory could be used as a staging ground for attacks like those the Lebanese militia Hezbollah has pulled off for decades
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