Israel mulling new security zone in Syria to protect Golan – report

It is ‘incredible’ that the West is rushing to help the new regime when it is led by Muslim extremists, Israeli official says.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Senior Israeli officials said Thursday that Israel will need to maintain an operational presence 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) wide inside Syrian territory to ensure the safety of Golan Heights residents.

Moreover, they said that a full 60-km radius of influence under the control of Israeli intelligence is also required to prevent potential threats such as missile launchings from emerging from the surrounding areas.

“We’re building an operational concept for this new reality,” said one official, who expressed amazement that Western countries, including the U.S., are rushing to have a relationship with the Muslim extremist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that felled the decades-long Ba’athist regime last month.

These democracies were purposefully “choosing to be blind” when dealing with “some of the most dangerous people in the world,” who hail from ISIS and al-Qaida, groups whose stated goal is to brutally install a Muslim caliphate wherever they gain power.

Notably, the Biden administration has already reduced some sanctions and removed a $10 million bounty that had been placed on the head of HTS chief and de facto Syrian leader Ahmad al-Sharaa ten years ago.

“It’s incredible how the world has fallen into this trap again,” the official said, noting that “The Arab world surrounding us understands the threat and is warning the West but they refuse to listen.”

Germany, France, the U.S. and others have sent representatives to meet with Syria’s new leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, who has talked as if he is no longer a Muslim fanatic, saying that his regime will protect minorities and is not interested in fighting Israel, among other things that are music to Western ears.

At the same time, he has requested both massive financial aid to reconstruct Syria, and that Israel’s allies pressure Jerusalem into withdrawing the forces it rushed to the demilitarized zone between the two countries when the lightning takeover took place, and has maintained there ever since.

The IDF has also bombed and destroyed much of Syria’s most dangerous weapons and air defense, its entire navy and a vital missile-producing facility, and continues operations as needed, which the new regime says should stop immediately.

Israel cannot afford to be as gullible as the West, the official indicated.

The new regime’s détente with Israel “might hold true for a year, two years, maybe even 10 or 20,” the official said. “But no one can guarantee that eventually, they won’t turn against us – and these are highly dangerous people.”

The official noted other potential threats as well, including al-Sharaa allowing safe residency to fellow Sunni Jihadist organizations such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), whose forces are still battling the IDF in the Gaza Strip since their invasion of Israel and slaughter of 1,200 people last October 7.

“We won’t allow their establishment in Syria just as we prevented Iran’s foothold there,” the official said. “We estimate that al-Sharaa prefers to keep them there so they can act against Israel, giving him plausible deniability.”

Israel is at least not too worried about Iran itself regaining influence in Syria, considering that as Shiite Muslims who propped up the former Assad regime, the mullahs and their chief terror proxy, Hezbollah, are persona non grata in the country.

Golan HeightsHayat Tahrir al-ShamMissile threatSyriaSyria Israel