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An Al Jazeera investigation published in late May on the Israeli army’s illegal occupations revealed that, over the past three years, Israel has been implementing a plan to expand into the Levant region, occupying an area of approximately 100,000 hectares—an area larger than New York City. Al Jazeera analysts compared official Israeli maps published following various ceasefire agreements with satellite imagery, geographic information systems (GIS), and statistics from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED). In all the areas involved—namely Gaza, southern Lebanon and southern Syria, there is a significant discrepancy.
In Gaza, as reported on Kritica months ago, following the ceasefire agreement in October 2025, Israel established a “yellow line” beyond which it was not supposed to advance. In reality, since then, the Jewish state has invaded northern Gaza, expanding into well over 20,000 hectares of land and annexing at least 54.7% of the northern part of the Strip.
In southern Lebanon, however, following the April 2026 ceasefire, official maps reportedly included a 57,000-hectare area within the buffer zone, but satellite images acquired subsequently show that the Israelis are demolishing buildings in villages and towns beyond the yellow line; Zawtar al Sharqiya is one such example.
Riguardo alla situazione siriana, Israele ha tratto profondo vantaggio dai cambiamenti che ci sono stati nel Paese e dalla posizione di giustificata debolezza in cui si trova la Siria che, dopo tredici anni di guerra e dopo un regime che ha lasciato ferite profonde nella società siriana, è ora impegnata nella ricostruzione di un intero apparato statale che non abbia legame alcuno con quello passato degli Assad.
In this regard, the new government is strongly committed to the transitional justice process, which involves the complete removal of former government and military officials linked to the old regime and the prosecution of those individuals. Ahmed al-Sharaa is opening Syria up to the international community through meetings with heads of state, the country’s first-ever participation in the G7, and hosting various foreign dignitaries and delegations visiting Syria, such as Macron’s delegation yesterday and the Vatican delegation last June. Trump described al Sharaa as an “attractive guy [with] a tough past” and a few weeks ago invited him to fight Hezbollah in Lebanon since, in his opinion, Israel is unable to do the job. However, as we reported on Kritica [see article below, ed.], the Syrian president refused, stating that he respects the territorial sovereignty of other states and reiterating that Syria’s priority is reconstruction.
This isn’t the first time Ahmed al Sharaa has disappointed Trump. The first incident dates back to that memorable meeting at the White House, which is also remembered for the scene in which the tycoon sprayed him with one of his colognes. On that occasion, Trump asked al Sharaa to sign the Abraham Accords to begin normalizing relations with Israel. Eight months have passed since then, but al Sharaa continues to maintain that it is impossible for Syria to join the Accords as long as Israel occupies the Golan.
In fact, since 1967, the State of Israel has occupied the highlands in southwestern Syria, which it seized as spoils of the Six-Day War.
Oltre a questa occupazione imposta e, per qualche motivo, normalizzata, c’è una zona cuscinetto sotto l’osservazione dell’UNDOF (United Nation Disangagement Observer Force), la forza di peacekeeping dell’ONU creata nel 1974 dopo la Guerra del Kippur per monitorare il cessate il fuoco e la zona di separazione tra i due Paesi.
After the fall of the Assad regime, Israel occupied the buffer zone, took control of strategic positions such as the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, and carried out a total of 800 incursions from December 2024 to January 2026, pushing almost to the outskirts of Damascus. As in August 2025, when it carried out a raid as far as the al-Kiswah area, just 10 km from the Syrian capital, killing six soldiers from the new Syrian army. In November of that same year, it carried out a raid in Beit Jinn, in the southwestern countryside of the capital, killing 13 Syrians and wounding many others on that occasion as well. In November and December alone, observers recorded 200 incursions and attacks, including bombings against civilians, arrests, detentions, and arbitrary killings.
Israele è abile nel muoversi in situazioni contestate sul piano del diritto internazionale, cercando di ottenere successivamente una legittimazione politica delle proprie azioni. Infatti, per legittimare in qualche modo l’occupazione della Siria, nel marzo 2026 ha annunciato un programma di sminamento collegato alla “Easter Border Security Barrier” per una spesa di 60 milioni di dollari. La scusa sarebbe la bonifica dalle mine di 300 ettari di terra nel sud della Siria. Tuttavia, le dimensioni dell’investimento gettano più di un sospetto sulle reali intenzioni. L’ordine effettuato da Israele a Ondas, la società statunitense quotata al Nasdaq specializzata nella robotica militare, ammonta infatti a un totale di 1,7 miliardi di dollari, 50,7 milioni in più oltre alla spesa per lo sminamento. Il piano sembrerebbe dunque quello di occupare gran parte del sud della Siria e per farlo ci vogliono soldi.
The mission is well underway, given that—according to the Al Jazeera investigation cited at the beginning of this article—Israel has advanced 63 km beyond the buffer zone, reaching the countryside of Daraa and, over the past month, into the river basin of Yarmouk, occupying 23,500 hectares of Syrian territory. The areas in question overlap with the ancient biblical region of Bashan, a territory that some settlers claim as part of the Land of Israel. To this end, they have founded a movement called “The Pioneers of Bashan,” and have recently been making several attempts to enter Syria. Last May, about ten “pioneers” managed to enter the Daraa Governorate, occupying the rooftops of civilian homes for a few hours. A few days ago, another hundred settlers marched from the occupied Golan Heights toward Quneitra, but have so far been turned back by the Israeli army.
Dopo la caduta del regime di Assad, Netanyahu ha approvato un piano di sviluppo per il Golan che prevede il raddoppio dei coloni nella regione, ed ha chiesto la demilitarizzazione, da parte del nuovo esercito siriano, delle province di Quneitra, Daraa e Suwayda, ovvero di terre appartenute sempre alla Siria. Queste mosse sarebbero, nelle parole di Netanyahu, a scopo difensivo, come se i 120mila ettari di Golan occupato più i 23.500 di terra cuscinetto dell’UNDOF non fossero sufficienti a separare i due Paesi. Rispondono alla tipica strategia israeliana di rimettere sempre in discussione i confini, invadendo e occupando e contemporaneamente giustificandosi con la paura di venire invasi dai propri vicini.
Another excuse Israel is using to justify its hegemony in southern Syria is the defense of the Druze [We have discussed the situation of the Syrian Druze at length here, ed.]. In fact, over the past year, there have been several clashes between the transitional government authorities and Druze militias; the former claim to be quelling the abuses and unrest perpetrated by Druze militias against civilians (especially Bedouins) in Suweida, while the latter seek to maintain independence from the Syrian government and protect the Druze from potential attacks by minority groups. The proclaimed Jewish state is home to 150,000 Israelis of Druze ethnicity, many of whom serve in the IDF.
In the face of all these attacks, Syrian authorities are repeatedly denouncing Israel’s conduct to the UN Security Council through official letters of complaint, such as the one submitted on April 7, 2025, by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the transitional government, and through official requests to take decisive measures to stop the repeated aggressions, as was done several times during the summer of 2025. Last August, the British-Syrian lawyer Ibrahim Olabi was appointed Syria’s permanent representative to the UN, and since then Syria’s voice has become more prominent and persistent; complaints that the attacks are undermining the country’s reconstruction and calls for decisive action to protect Syrian sovereignty are ongoing. UN observers have also drafted reports denouncing Israel’s actions in Syria, characterizing the conduct as a possible war crime. However, to date, the UN has not imposed any coercive measures against Israel, limiting itself to formally renewing UNDOF’s mandate through December 30 of this year.
Syria, meanwhile, unable to respond militarily for fear of triggering a new conflict—which, after thirteen years of war, it simply cannot afford—has no choice but to continue filing formal complaints with the UN Security Council and implementing restrictions against Israel, such as the enactment on May 19 of Law No. 109 of 2026, which includes Articles 112 and 206 aimed at strengthening the boycott of Israeli imports and treating their illegal trafficking as a serious offense on par with that of weapons and narcotics.
Nel suo piccolo, nonostante il rischio di complicare i rapporti con gli USA, la Siria sta muovendo un duro messaggio contro Israele, nelle parole e nei fatti, non rispondendo alle provocazioni militari e nemmeno a quelle verbali di Sa’ar e Ben-Gvir, che hanno esortato all’assassinio di al Shaara. E mentre il Governo libanese, lo scorso 26 giugno, ha firmato gli accordi trilaterali con gli USA ed Israele, accettando la presenza militare israeliana nel sud del Paese con ritiro condizionato al disarmo di Hezbollah, i cittadini siriani resistono all’avanzata dell’IDF piazzando massi per le strade della provincia di Daraa. Si uniscono all’attesa, assieme ai palestinesi, di un intervento decisivo da parte dell’ONU, dell’Europa e della comunità internazionale.
© Kritica – Riproduzione parziale consentita (non più di metà articolo) citando la fonte e inserendo il link all’inizio.