Located in the southwestern corner of Syria and bordering Israel, Lebanon and Jordan, the Golan Heights is a rocky plateau of 1,000 square kilometers about 60 kilometers from Damascus, although it has a significance far beyond that and has been a political flashpoint for decades .
Israel has occupied the Golan Heights since the 1980s and now its forces have seized the demilitarized buffer zone in response to the fall of Bashar al-Assad's brutal dictatorship in Syria.
Troops have also been deployed outside the demilitarized buffer zone and into Syrian territory, with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz saying that the Israeli Defense Forces had been instructed to create a “sterile defense zone” in southern Syria, adding that they would not would maintain a permanent presence. Israel had previously described reports from Syrian sources that it had breached the buffer zone as “false”.
At a press conference in Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israeli control of the higher ground “ensures our security and sovereignty,” adding that “the Golan will forever be part of the State of Israel.”
The Israeli Cabinet has now unanimously approved Netanyahu's $11 million plan to double the population of the Golan Heights due to potential security risks in the wake of Bashar al-Assad's ouster from Syria.
His office said the money will be spent on education, renewable energy, the creation of a student village and a plan to absorb new residents.
It is a move that has drawn condemnation across the region and at the UN. Here, The independent explains why Israel considers the Golan Heights so important.
Why is Israel occupying the Golan Heights?
It was captured by Israeli forces during the 1967 Six-Day War, a brief conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Syrian Arab residents fled the area during the conflict, before a ceasefire line was drawn and the region was brought under the control of the Israeli army. Settlers began pushing into the Golan almost immediately afterwards.
Israeli military vehicles drive after crossing the fence into the buffer zone with Syria, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights (AFP via Getty Images)
Fourteen years of military rule followed – including a failed attempt by Syria to retake the Golan in 1973. Israel and Syria signed a ceasefire in 1974 and since 1974 there has been a UN observer force along the ceasefire line. Israel unilaterally annexed the area in 1981. .
In December of that year, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 497, declaring that the Golan Heights remained an occupied territory and that the legal annexation was “null and void and without international legal effect”.
More than forty years later, the entire international community – except for the US and Israel – considers the Golan Heights to be Syrian territory under Israeli occupation. In 2019, the US recognized the Golan Heights as Israeli sovereign territory during Donald Trump's first term – becoming the only state to do so.
Israeli soldiers take up position near the so-called Alpha Line separating the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights from Syria, in the town of Majdal Shams (AP)
Defense Minister Israel Katz said the decision was made on Sunday to take over the area to protect civilians. Israel later told the UN Security Council it was taking a “limited and temporary” measure to deal with threats to its security.
The move was condemned by regional powers including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey.
Reports from Syrian sources saying that Israel had breached Syrian territory outside the occupied Golan Heights – and that it was only 25km from the Syrian capital Damascus – were strongly refuted by Israel, which said its forces remained “within the buffer zone”.
Why is Israel so excited about the Golan Heights?
About 23,000 Druze, who largely identify as Arabs and did not flee the country during the 1967 war, currently live next to 30 Israeli settlements on the Golan Heights.
Israeli military vehicles cross the fence as they return from the buffer zone with Syria (AFP via Getty Images)
In 2021, Israel pledged to double the number of Jewish settlers in the Golan Heights within five years, approving 7,300 homes in the area, which would bring an additional 23,000 settlers. Then-far-right Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett told his cabinet: “It goes without saying that the Golan Heights are Israeli.”
The area is of strategic military importance. When Syria controlled the Heights between 1948 and 1967, it would use them as a vantage point from which to shell northern Israel. The top of the Heights offers a view as far as Damascus and overlooks much of southern Syria, allowing Israel to monitor Syrian movements and making military action by Syria against Israel difficult.
The Golan also has fertile soil and is an essential water source for an arid region.
The Syrian regime has previously sought a peace deal with Israel, demanding a complete withdrawal to pre-1967 borders and the removal of all Israeli settlements.
