The images show Israel could be building a permanent military presence in Syria [Getty]
Israel is building illegal military bases in the demilitarised buffer zone with Syria in the occupied Golan Heights, according to satellite images verified by multiple media outlets on Monday.
The images were captured between 19 December 2024 — just 11 days after Syria’s ousted tyrant Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow — and February 2025.
The images reveal six sites built within that period inside the buffer zone, along with another site under construction outside the buffer zone but within Syrian territory.
The seven sites are located west of Hadar village, west of Jabata al-Khashab, north of al-Hamidyah, Quneitra village, south of Lake Aziz (two sites), and above Tal al-Ahmar, Al Jazeera reports.
In 1974, Israel and Syria reached a ceasefire agreement establishing a demilitarised buffer zone in the Golan Heights.
However, soon after reports confirmed the fall of the al-Assad regime following more than 50 years of autocratic dynastic rule, the Israeli military began invading Syrian territory in the buffer zone and crossed into Syrian territory beyond it.
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has made it clear that his transitional government would adhere to the 1974 agreement, demonstrating it poses no threat to Israel.
However, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the 1974 agreement was made with a now-deposed regime and is therefore no longer valid.
“We will not allow any hostile force to establish itself on our border,” Netanyahu said, despite the new Syrian government making no hostile moves towards Israel.
Israeli forces initially reassured residents that their occupation was temporary but the reality on the ground, with Israel building the above sites, constructing roads and bulldozing parts of villages, and the rhetoric of the Israeli government has undermined this.
Syrian citizens in and around the demilitarised zone have reported Israeli encroachment on their land, along with checkpoints, unauthorised arrests, housing raids, and road closures. Many fear that Israel is conducting a land grab.
“They are building military bases. How is that temporary?” asked Mohammed Muraiwid, the mayor of the Israeli-occupied Syrian village Jubata al-Khashab, to The Washington Post.
Murajwid has witnessed Israeli troops constructing a new military outpost on the edge of his village.
Despite the initial assurances from Israel of the occupation being temporary, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz openly admitted last week that Tel Aviv means to maintain a permanent presence on the Syrian side of the buffer zone at Mount Hermon.
“The IDF will remain at the summit of the Hermon and the security zone indefinitely to ensure the security of the communities of the Golan Heights and the north, and all the residents of Israel,” Katz said during a visit to the occupied territory.
This comes following initial reports on Monday of Israel withdrawing from certain parts of Quneitra in the south of Syria. The New Arab could not independently verify the claims.
Local sources claim that the Israeli military withdrew from the governorate building and the court building in the city of Al-Baath in Quneitra Governorate, and also carried out a partial withdrawal from the vicinity of Al-Mantara Dam and the town of Al-Qahtaniyah in the Quneitra countryside.
