Villagers in Syria Bristle at Israeli Incursions

As the Assad regime collapsed this month, Israel’s military swiftly seized control over the border area with Syria—moving to disarm nearby villages to create a security buffer.

- ANAT PELED AND SUHA MA’AYEH

Now, some of these villages are pushing back against what they fear could become a prolonged Israeli occupation.

Protests have broken out in recent days in some southern Syrian villages against the Israeli military presence. Online footage showed crowds carrying Free Syria flags throwing stones on Dec. 20 in the direction of Israeli military vehicles in the border village of Maariyah. Some villages are refusing to turn in their arms to Israeli forces, saying they would hand them over only to Syrian government forces.

A young man was shot and wounded in the Maariyah protests as the Israeli military tried to push back the demonstrators. People who took part in the protest said Israeli forces through loudspeakers had warned the demonstrators to back off before opening fire. In another protest in the village of Sweisa on Wednesday, the Israeli military said it fired warning shots toward angry protesters who came close to them, an incident in which locals said several people were wounded.

Residents of some villages have complained that their mobility and access to essential goods such as food, water and electricity has been disrupted by Israel’s presence. Some have accused Israeli forces of preventing farmers from accessing their fields. The heads of eight villages in Quneitra province signed a shared statement demanding Israeli forces leave.

“It is generating fear, upset, anger,” said Aymenn Jawad AlTamimi, a Syria expert and fellow at the Middle East Forum, a Philadelphia-based think tank, referring to the Israeli military presence in Syrian territory. “The longer this goes on the bigger the fear is this will turn into an armed confrontation.”