by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] On November 19, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Syria – but with a twist.
He visited the so-called "buffer zone" in the southern part of the country, which has been under Israeli military control for about a year. Netanyahu was accompanied on his trip by Defense and Foreign Ministers Israel Katz and Gideon Saar, Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, and Counterintelligence Chief David Zini.
The trip to the buffer zone marked the first time such a large delegation of high-ranking Israeli officials had visited Syrian territory. And it conveyed a clear message: Israel is here for the long haul.
"BUFFER" VISIT
The high-ranking delegation arrived in southern Syria in the morning, causing great surprise among the local contingent – such a large number of senior officials had never been seen there at one time before.
Only Zamir and Katz regularly visited the contact zone (and they traveled separately to complete official tasks). For Saar and Zini, this was their first trip since assuming their new positions.
And Netanyahu’s appearance among the guests created a real sensation.
The last time the prime minister personally traveled to the front lines was in November 2023, during the initial stages of the war with Hamas, to encourage Israeli fighters and give them encouragement before the offensive.
However, in 2024, when the Israeli army crossed the border with Syria and established a buffer zone in the south, the prime minister limited himself to observing maneuvers from a permanent command post near Safed.
Speaking to the military, Netanyahu did not mince words and said bluntly that the Israeli army would remain in the south “as long as the situation requires.”
Similar assessments were made to the command staff. During a security meeting with the force's command, the Israeli prime minister set the task of "maintaining readiness to deploy" and, among other things, preparing for a potential expansion of the zone of presence "if the situation requires it."
Netanyahu, however, did not meet with the leaders of the local Druze communities, under the pretext of protecting whom Israel entered Syrian territory in the winter of 2024. At least not publicly. This was done deliberately, to avoid further provoking Damascus into further ethnic cleansing.
On the other hand, the presence in the delegation of Zini, who oversees relations with national minorities through counterintelligence, hinted that work with the loyalists had indeed been carried out and that they had received assurances of support from Tel Aviv.
OPEN SIGNAL
Netanyahu's "sudden" appearance in the contact zone can be seen as a response to the recent behind-the-scenes maneuvers of official Damascus.
During negotiations with the United States in Washington in early November, transitional President Ahmed al-Sharaa tried to secure the White House's support for eliminating the buffer zone in southern Syria, or at least reducing its size, but found no understanding.
Both Donald Trump and his confidants chose not to promise anything, but instead proposed that Damascus normalize relations with Tel Aviv within the framework of the Abraham Accords.
And al-Sharaa did indeed agree to such a step: throughout November, the parties held several closed technical consultations, which were supposed to culminate in a meeting between the Syrian interim leader and the Israeli prime minister.
However, with each round, disagreements only grew: Tel Aviv refused to dismantle checkpoints in southern Syria until Damascus completed the democratization process, disarmed illegal armed groups, and guaranteed equal rights and freedoms for Syrian minorities.
At the same time, any demands put forward by representatives of the al-Sharaa cabinet to Israel (for example, the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Golan Heights) were rejected as “not related to the topic of the meeting.”
| One does not demand during negotiations, but suggest. Unless, of course, one is in a much stronger position. Syria is not. |
Unsurprisingly, the negotiations quickly reached a dead end and the reset of relations was postponed indefinitely.
DISTRACT ATTENTION
It is noteworthy that the press service of the Prime Minister's Office published the news of his trip to the south just a few hours before the start of the UN Security Council meeting dedicated to resolving the situation in Syria.
As a result, the meeting, which was planned to discuss a range of economic and legal issues, including the status of national and religious minorities, turned into a squabble between Damascus and Tel Aviv.
Both sides stood their ground: Syrian UN Ambassador Ibrahim al-Alabi accused Israel of violating sovereignty and "creeping expansion" beyond the Golan Heights. In response, Israeli Permanent Representative Danny Danon, in his usual manner, criticized the "new Syria," noting, among other things, that it was "no different from the old" and remained a threat to Israeli interests in the region.
Attempts by other meeting participants, including those representing the Security Council Five, to calm the enraged disputants were futile: the meeting was adjourned without a clear outcome.
| Oh no — the outcome was very clear: despite promises to President Trump, “interim” ruler al-Sharaa is not anywhere near ready for an Abraham Accord of his very own. Whether he is capable of it is a separate question, to which we anticipate the answer, dear Reader. |
Israel benefits from keeping the "new Syria" in limbo for as long as possible. And it's not just about securing the borders and gradually building a "loyal stratum" among the local population. Far more important for Tel Aviv is to starve Damascus out of existence.
Internal tensions are rising in Syria. The rapid reforms promised by al-Shara's transitional cabinet upon assuming power are being delayed or are being implemented only partially. This is creating unrest among the former armed opposition and creating new cliques hostile to the interim government in Damascus.
The risk of a new round of civil war is growing, with the current authorities forced to defend themselves. And amid all the turmoil, no one is likely to immediately notice that Israel's temporary presence in southern Syria has become permanent.