Israel challenges the new leaders of Syria with the search for demilitarization in the south

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded the complete demilitarization of much of southern Syria.

This is a message that can conflict between Israel and the new leadership in Syria after the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad, more likely.

In a speech to Israeli military cadets on Sunday, Netanyahu said Israel would not allow Hayat Tahrir al -Sham (HTS), the Islamist group leading the removal of Assad – neither the new Syrian army that formed “enter the area south south Damascus “.

“We require the complete demilitarization of southern Syria in the provinces of Kunitra, Draa and Subitida of the forces of the new regime,” he added. “In the same way we will not tolerate any threat to the community of Druz in southern Syria.”

He also said that Israeli forces would remain indefinitely inside the Syrian territory, which they seized after Assad’s fall last December – which would be a change in the Israeli strategy.

Until now, Israel had described its transition into a non-observable demilitarized buffer zone in the Golan Heights as a temporary measure to ensure the security of the Israelis on the other side.

The justification seems to prevent the passage of extremist groups to the Golana in the vacuum of power.

But with his recent comments, Netanyahu made it clear that he believed that the new authorities in Syria – with their experience in jihadism – could pose such a danger.

Israel seized the bigger part of Syria’s Golana during the Middle East war in 1967 and later annexes. This move was not recognized internationally, although the United States did so in 2019.

The new temporary president of Syria, HTS leader Ahmed al -Sharaa, tried to assure Israel that he did not want a conflict and that he was ready to maintain the long -term separation agreement between the two countries, ended after another war in 1973.

He also stressed that he would not allow Syria to be used as a base for attacks against Israel.

But Sharaa also called on Israel to withdraw from the buffer zone she had taken as he tried to defend the sovereignty throughout the destroyed landscape in Syria.

It is clear that Netanyahu does not trust these assurances.

Like much of the international community, the Israeli Prime Minister is waiting to see if Sharaa is doing well with his moderate, emollient position in action, as well as words.

From the point of view of the new Syrian leadership, the liberation of the country from the influence of all foreign forces that Jockey have been as a position in the many years of the Civil War, is regarded as a vital for ensuring a more positive future for the country and a final interruption of the past.

Some foreign players, such as Iran and Russia, have so far seen at least the shortening of the over -influence they have ever had.

With President Donald Trump, the US can also further abandon Syria-Rolya, which has helped to support the Kurdish forces in the northeast of the country.

However, the impact of Turkey has increased – which provided major support for HTS in its Lightning Campaign against Assad.

How much she chose to play can be a determining factor in how Syria develops in the era after Assad.

But Israel may be a more unnatural challenge to the independence of the new leadership of Syria.

To have Israeli troops increasingly violate the territory of the country – as well as making numerous strikes on goals related to what is left of the Assad’s military arsenal – does not fit into the vision of the redeemed, sovereign state that Sharaa is trying to convince Syrians both inside and outside the country, which his leadership can provide.

Moving Netanyahu to prohibitions of Syrian forces from working freely within the country’s borders may be a step too far for the new order in Damascus to the stomach, as much as a non -confrontation image trying to maintain.