EXPLAINER
For the reason that fall of the al-Assad regime, Israel has attacked Syria to deepen the occupation of the Golan Heights.
Amongst Israel’s latest violations of Syrian sovereignty, which embody a whole lot of air assaults, is its renewed encroachment into the Golan Heights – with tanks and unlawful settlements.
The Golan Heights unfold over 1,800 sq. km (700 sq. miles) and have been a flashpoint within the area for many years.
So what are they? What’s Israel attempting to do there?
Right here’s what we all know:
What are the Golan Heights?
The Golan Heights are in southwestern Syria, about 60km (40 miles) south of Damascus.
They’re bordered by the Yarmouk River within the south and the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias) within the west.
The Golan spreads over basalt rock with fertile land and important water sources that feed the Jordan River and the Hasbani River, which flows from Lebanon by the Golan.
Who do the Golan Heights belong to?
The Golan Heights are a part of Syria, as recognised by the United Nations.
Nonetheless, Israel occupied the Golan through the 1967 War and presently controls 1,200sq km (463sq miles) of the western a part of the area.
Virtually instantly after Israel occupied a part of the Golan, it began to construct unlawful settlements there.
A UN-monitored buffer zone separates Israeli-occupied territory from the remaining half that’s nonetheless beneath Syria’s management.
Aren’t settlements unlawful?
Sure, they’re unlawful.
And but, Israel has constructed greater than 30 settlements within the space, the place greater than 25,000 Jewish Israelis stay.
And it’s nonetheless signalling that it needs to construct extra.
Late on Sunday, the cupboard accredited an $11m plan to boost companies to present unlawful settlements and to fund a plan to carry extra settlers there.
This isn’t occurring in isolation, as Israel can also be attacking websites throughout Syria, claiming that it’s doing so in “self defence”.
Are there any unique inhabitants left within the Golan?
Certain, the Druze, about 20,000.
The Druze are an ethnoreligious community who stay in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon and have a tendency to maintain to themselves.
When Israel invaded the Golan in 1967, it violently expelled many of the Druze who lived there.
Has Syria ever tried to take again the Golan Heights?
Sure, however with out success.
In the course of the 1973 October War, Syria tried to take again the Golan Heights however couldn’t.
In 1974, the UN obtained concerned, deploying peacekeeping forces within the space after Syria and Israel signed an armistice.
The UN Safety Council (UNSC) established the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) the identical yr to keep up a ceasefire and create a buffer zone.
As of April, 1,274 UN personnel are deployed within the Golan Heights.
What’s the world’s place on the Golan Heights?
No nation, apart from Donald Trump’s United States in 2019, recognises Israel’s occupation of Syria’s Golan Heights.
A 1981 UNSC decision opposed the occupation and declared Israel’s rule over the Golan “null and void and with out worldwide authorized impact”.
The 2019 US recognition of Israel’s presence within the Golan still stands beneath President Joe Biden’s administration.
