In the towns and villages of southern Syria occupied by Israel since the overthrow of longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad, soldiers and residents gauge each other from a distance.
The main street of the village of Jabata al-Khashab is largely deserted as a foot patrol of Israeli troops passes through it.
Most villagers have locked themselves in their homes since the troops arrived. A few look through windows and from rooftops.
It’s the same story in the nearby town of Baath, named for the now-suspended political party that ruled Syria for more than 60 years until Assad’s overthrow by Islamist-led rebels earlier this month.
The town’s main street was heavily damaged by the passage of a column of Israeli tanks.
Street furniture has been reduced to mangled metal and broken branches from roadside trees litter the highway.
“Look at all the destruction that Israeli tanks have caused on our streets and on our road signs,” said doctor Arsan Arsan, 51.
“People here are very angry about the Israeli incursion. We are for peace, but on the condition that Israel withdraws to the armistice line.”
– Ready for a “prolonged presence” –
Israel announced on December 8 that its troops were crossing the armistice line and occupying the UN-monitored buffer zone that has separated Israeli and Syrian forces in the strategic Golan Heights since 1974.
This announcement, quickly condemned by the United Nations, comes on the same day the rebels entered Damascus.
Israel said it was a defensive measure motivated by the security vacuum created by the brutal collapse of the Assad government.
Israeli troops quickly occupied much of the buffer zone, including the top of Syria’s highest peak, Mount Hermon.
The Israeli military has since confirmed that its troops are also operating beyond the buffer zone in other areas of southwest Syria.
At a security briefing on Mount Hermon on Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz spoke of the importance of “finishing preparations… for the possibility of a prolonged presence” in the buffer zone.
He added that the 2,814-meter (9,232-foot) summit provided “a means of observation and deterrence” both against Hezbollah in Lebanon and against the new authorities in Damascus who “claim to present a moderate front but are affiliated with the most extremist Islamist factions.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist group that led the rebel overthrow of Assad, has its roots in al-Qaeda and remains proscribed as a terrorist organization by several Western governments, although it has recently sought to moderate its image. years.
– Israeli flags –
On the road linking Damascus to Quneitra, the provincial capital, an AFP correspondent saw no sign of the transitional government or its fighters. All checkpoints that had controlled access to the province for decades were abandoned.
The streets of Quneitra were also largely deserted, with residents staying home, occasionally glancing at passing Israeli patrols.
Israeli soldiers raised the Star of David on several peaks overlooking the city.
HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said Israel’s crossing of the armistice line on the Golan “threatens further unwarranted escalation in the region.”
But he added in a statement late last week that “the general exhaustion in Syria after years of war and conflict does not allow us to enter into new conflicts.”
This stance left many people in the south feeling abandoned and left to fend for themselves.
“We are only 400 meters from Israeli tanks… the children are afraid of the incursion,” said Yassin al-Ali, who lives on the outskirts of the village of Al-Hamidiyah, not far from the town of Baas.
He said that instead of celebrating their victory in Damascus, the transitional government and its fighters should come to the aid of Quneitra province.
“What is happening here should really make those celebrating Umayyad Square stop for a moment… and come here to support us against the Israeli occupation,” Ali said.
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