In Syria’s Golan Heights buffer zone, residents fear Israel is making a land grab : NPR

QUNEITRA PROVINCE, GOLAN HEIGHTS, Syria — The Golan Heights is a rocky terrain dotted with olive bushes and grazing cows, and it is enclosed by snow-capped mountains. For a lot of his life, Khaled Ramadan, 50, lived a peaceable life right here, within the small Syrian village of Al-Rawady. However hours after rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, swept into the Syrian capital Damascus in early December, toppling Bashar al-Assad’s regime, Ramadan was uprooted and displaced.

Ramadan mentioned it wasn’t HTS however a distinct pressure altogether that swept into his village and compelled him and his spouse and two kids out.

“The Israeli tanks and bulldozers rolled in, and there was gunfire on the properties,” Ramadan says.

Since Assad’s ouster final month, Israel’s army has taken up a brand new publish inside an internationally patrolled buffer zone between Syria and Israel. That is the place Ramadan’s village is situated.

Israel says its army presence within the Golan Heights border highlands is significant for its nationwide safety. Syrian villagers there, like Ramadan, say the Israeli military has destroyed their properties, compelled out residents and broken water mains and different infrastructure. “We went with nothing however these garments,” says Ramadan.

Israel’s army did not reply to NPR’s request for remark in regards to the village’s takeover.

Israel and Syria have been enemies for many years, preventing in conflicts together with the 1967 Six-Day Struggle, when Israel captured components of the Golan Heights and rapidly established dozens of settlements thought of unlawful beneath worldwide regulation.

In 1973, Syria tried to reclaim the Golan Heights in a struggle it waged on Israel with Egypt. It failed, however Israel and Syria agreed to signal an armistice, resulting in a demilitarized buffer zone monitored by United Nations peacekeepers.

This buffer zone was taken over by the Israeli army hours after HTS swept into Damascus final month. Concurrently, Israeli airstrikes destroyed a number of army installations, together with fighter jets and weapon caches throughout Syria.

On the identical day, Dec. 8, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood on the highest of Mount Hermon within the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, sporting a physique armor vest, and known as the takeover of the buffer zone a “non permanent defensive place” till “one other appropriate association is discovered.” He didn’t provide a withdrawal date. The United Nations has known as on Israel to withdraw.

Nearly every week later, Israel’s authorities accredited a plan to broaden settlements within the Golan Heights. Netanyahu mentioned he didn’t need battle with Syria however nonetheless aimed to double the Israeli inhabitants within the occupied space. There are about 20,000 Israeli settlers residing within the Golan Heights now.

Some Syrians concern that Israel is benefiting from Syria’s fledgling authorities to make a land seize. And lots of villagers are apprehensive they’re going to be displaced, very like Ramadan was.

A gathering with the military

The flooring of Mayor Mohamed Emreiwet’s front room within the village of Jebat al-Khashab within the Quneitra province are coated with Center Japanese carpets, and a wood-burning range in the midst of the room retains it heat. The partitions are lined with images of males with spectacular mustaches — his grandfather, uncles and a relative who fought French colonialists in Syria a century in the past.

Emreiwet says Israeli troops entered his village on Dec. 9, the day after Assad’s fall, and he obtained phrase they needed to fulfill with the village elders, together with himself. He and different elders met with two or three officers and plenty of troopers in a forest on the highway close to his village.

“They mentioned, ‘We’re right here to guard ourselves by ourselves,'” Emreiwet informed NPR. “They mentioned, ‘We do not belief anybody after the occasions of Oct. 7.’ “

The Israeli troops have been referring to the Hamas-led assaults on Israel of Oct. 7, 2023, during which nearly 1,200 individuals have been killed and a few 250 have been taken hostage.

“They [Israeli troops] informed us, ‘You may have weapons that we would like, and we’ll come and search your properties,’ ” Emreiwat mentioned.

The mayor informed the troops that this might disturb his villagers and trigger them anxiousness, so to go off the searches, he and different group members introduced on Fb and through phrase of mouth that folks ought to give up their weapons.

“And we gave it to them,” Emreiwet says.

Emreiwet despatched phrase to the interim Syrian authorities about his encounter and says he was informed negotiations with Israel have been underway to depart the buffer zone quickly.

NPR requested each Syria’s interim authorities and the Israeli international ministry for an replace, and neither responded.

“Israeli troops getting into our village means displacement,” Emreiwet mentioned. “And nobody is ready to do this.”

Protests and anger

The Israeli army has mentioned it has been conducting “operational raids” to destroy and confiscate weapons.

This has angered villagers, who concern for his or her security, and led to protests within the Golan Heights areas the place Israeli forces have moved in.

Seventeen-year previous Abdulrahman Aqqad sits huddled in blankets and a heat coat in a garden chair within the solar exterior his house within the village of Sweesa.

He mentioned on Dec. 25, a gaggle of women and men from his village went to protest plenty of approaching Israeli troops.

“We have been chanting, ‘Syria is free, Israel get out,’ after they began capturing,” Aqqad informed NPR.

Israeli troops fired into the group, he mentioned, capturing him in each legs. Now he’s unable to stroll.

The Israeli army informed NPR that troopers “solely fired warning pictures within the air” after a crowd that they had informed to retreat stored approaching them.

Israeli tanks simply down the highway

Mohamed Faroukh, 32, factors down his avenue within the village of al-Baath. About 300 yards away, at an intersection, there is a sand-colored Israeli tank that rolled in a number of days earlier.

“The tank comes down the road each evening, does a loop, then goes again,” he says, pointing on the white tank tracks on the bottom.

Faroukh says he obtained into an argument with Israeli troopers who informed him he had gotten too near their checkpoint.

“I’ve a spouse, a daughter, a mom, who I’m afraid for,” he informed NPR. He mentioned his daughter has nightmares of the tank rolling into the village.

He says he must make some powerful selections if the Israelis obtained any nearer or ended up occupying his village.

“There is not any means I might stay beneath Israeli occupation,” Faroukh says. “I am going to choose myself up and go.”