Syrians Frustrated by Inaction to Curb Israeli Advances

QUNEITRA, Syria (Dispatches) — A main road in the provincial capital of Quneitra in southern Syria was blocked with mounds of dirt, fallen palm trees and a metal pole that appeared to have once been a traffic light. On the other side of the barriers, an Israeli tank could be seen maneuvering in the middle of the street, the Associated Press reported.
Zionist forces entered the area — which lies in a UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights that was established by a 1974 ceasefire agreement between Syria and Israel — soon after the fall of President Bashar Assad last month.
The Israeli military has also made incursions into Syrian territory outside of the buffer zone, sparking protests by local residents. They said the Israeli forces have demolished homes and prevented farmers from going to their fields in some areas. On at least two occasions, Zionist troops reportedly opened fire on protesters who approached them.
Residents of Quneitra, a seemingly serene bucolic expanse of small villages and olive groves, said they are frustrated, both by the Israeli advances and by the lack of action from Syria’s new authorities and the international community.
Rinata Fastas said that Israeli forces raided local government buildings. Her house lies just inside of the newly blocked-off area in the provincial capital formerly called Ba’ath City, after Assad’s former ruling party, and now renamed Salam City.
She said she is afraid Israeli troops may advance farther or try to permanently occupy the area they have already taken. Israel still controls the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau overlooking northern occupied Palestinian territories that it captured from Syria during the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed. The international community, with the exception of the U.S., regards it as occupied.
Fastas said she understands that Syria is in no position to militarily confront Israel.
“But why is no one in the new Syrian state coming out and talking about the violations that are happening in Quneitra province and against the rights of its people?” she asked.
The Zionist regime describes its aggression in Syria as defensive and temporary. Officials point to the presence of resistance forces in Syria before Assad was ousted, and say they want to prevent a cross-border incursion like the Hamas-led attack that triggered the war in Gaza.
The United Nations has hit out at Israel for violating the 1974 ceasefire agreement by entering the buffer zone.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said troops will stay in Syria “until another arrangement is found that will ensure Israel’s security.” He was speaking from the snowy peak of Syria’s tallest mountain known as Jabal al Sheikh which has now been captured by Zionist forces.
The new Syrian rulers have lodged a complaint with the UN Security Council about Israeli airstrikes and advances into Syrian territory.
But the issue does not appear to be a priority for Syria’s new rulers as they try to consolidate

control over the country, turn a patchwork of former rebel factions into a new army, and push for the removal of Western sanctions.

The country’s new de facto leader, Muhammad al-Julani, head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has also publicly said Syria is not seeking a military conflict with Israel and will not pose a threat to the West.

In the meantime, residents of Quneitra have largely been left to fend for themselves.

In the village of Rafid, inside the buffer zone, locals said the Israeli military had demolished two civilian houses and a grove of trees as well as a former Syrian army outpost.

Mayor Omar Mahmoud Ismail said when the Israeli forces entered the village, an Israeli officer greeted him and told him, “I am your friend.”

“I told him, ‘You are not my friend, and if you were, you wouldn’t enter like this,’” Ismail said.

In Dawaya, a village outside the buffer zone, 18-year-old Abdelrahman Khaled al-Aqqa was lying on a mattress in his family home Sunday, still recovering after being shot in both legs. Al-Aqqa said he joined about 100 people from the area on Dec. 25 in protest against the Israeli incursion, chanting “Syria is free, Israel get out!”

“We didn’t have any weapons, we were just there in the clothes we were wearing,” he said. “But when we got close to them, they started shooting at us.”

Six protesters were wounded, according to residents and media reports. Another man was injured on Dec. 20 in a similar incident in the village of Maariyah. The Zionist military said at the time that it had fired because the man was quickly approaching and ignored calls to stop.

Regarding the Dec. 25 incident, the Israeli military said its forces had fired “warning shots solely aimed at the air” after the crowd did not heed a call to stand back.

In the village of Swisah, Adel Subhi al-Ali, a local Sunni religious official, sat with his 21-year-old son, Moutasem, who was recovering after being shot in the stomach in the Dec. 25 protest. He was driven first to a local hospital that did not have the capacity to treat him, and then to Damascus where he underwent surgery.

When he saw the Israeli tanks moving in, “We felt that an occupation is occupying our land. So we had to defend it, even though we didn’t have weapons, ... It is impossible for them to settle here,” al-Ali said.

Since the day of the protest, the Israeli army has not returned to the area, he said.

Al-Ali called for the international community to “pressure Israel to return to what was agreed upon with the former regime,” referring to the 1974 ceasefire agreement, and to return the Golan Heights to Syria.

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Syrians Frustrated by Inaction to Curb Israeli Advances