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A Normalization Agreement between Israel and Syria Remains a Distant Prospect

(Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs) Yoni Ben Menachem - Following the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria, Israel was forced to confront a new reality on its northern border. The collapse of the regime created a power vacuum that could have facilitated the rise of extremist groups such as ISIS or Iranian-backed militias, posing a new security threat to Israel. Israel acted swiftly, expanding its buffer zone in the Golan Heights and launching airstrikes to destroy Assad's military arsenal, preventing it from falling into the hands of jihadist terror groups. A senior Israeli political official stresses that in its talks with the new Syrian regime, Israel insists on protecting the Druze community in Suweyda and removing all armed forces from the Israeli border. He warned that jihadist groups in the area aspire to attack Israeli communities in the Golan Heights and carry out massacres similar to the Oct. 7 atrocities - necessitating precise military and diplomatic planning. Syrian leader al-Jolani does not exercise full security control over all of Syria, and his security forces have sometimes been complicit in massacres of minorities, including the recent killings of Druze in Suweyda. Israel seeks a normalization agreement with Syria, but such an agreement remains a distant prospect. A senior security source warned that signing a security agreement with al-Jolani's jihadist regime would limit the IDF's freedom of action and restrict Israel's ability to defend Golan Heights communities and the Druze in Suweyda. "Insofar as a jihadist regime rules Syria, it is preferable for Israel not to sign any agreement and instead maintain the current situation, in which it faces no international constraints on essential security operations," the source concluded. The writer, a veteran Arab affairs and diplomatic commentator for Israel Radio and Television, is a senior Middle East analyst for the Jerusalem Center.
2025-08-26 00:00:00
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