Israel’s government has approved a controversial plan to expand settlements in the occupied Golan Heights, following the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime to an Islamist-led rebel coalition. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the move, citing the emergence of a “new front” on Israel’s border with Syria.
Netanyahu announced plans to double the Israeli population in the Golan Heights, a territory Israel captured during the 1967 Six-Day War. While international law considers the Golan Heights illegally occupied, Israel disputes this characterization and maintains control over the region. The area is currently home to over 30 Israeli settlements with an estimated 20,000 settlers living alongside approximately 20,000 Syrians, most of them Druze Arabs who remained after the Israeli occupation began.
The Israeli military recently moved into the buffer zone separating the Golan Heights from Syria, arguing that the ceasefire arrangements had collapsed due to the regime change in Damascus. Despite this, Netanyahu insisted that Israel is not seeking conflict with Syria. “We will determine Israeli policy regarding Syria according to the reality on the ground,” he said on Sunday evening.
Netanyahu also reaffirmed Israel’s commitment to the Golan Heights, declaring, “We will continue to hold on to [the territory], make it flourish and settle it.”
Critics have questioned the government’s actions, with opposition voices warning that expanding settlements could escalate tensions. Speaking to the BBC World Service, a political analyst remarked, “Netanyahu says he doesn’t want confrontation with Syria, yet these actions could provoke exactly that. Israel has enough problems to address without creating new ones.”
The announcement comes amid heightened tensions between Israel and Syria’s new leadership. Syria’s de facto leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa—known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani—criticized Israel’s ongoing airstrikes on military facilities, calling them a violation of “red lines.” Al-Sharaa, who heads the transitional Islamist-led coalition in Syria, warned that such actions risk destabilizing the region further.
“We are not seeking conflict with any neighboring state,” al-Sharaa said in an interview with Syria TV. “Our war-weary condition after years of conflict and war does not allow for new confrontations.”
The Syrian transitional government is still in the process of forming under al-Sharaa’s leadership, as the nation struggles to recover from years of devastating civil war. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed that Washington had made direct contact with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the group leading Syria’s new government, despite its designation as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and other Western nations.
Geir Pedersen, the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, arrived in Damascus over the weekend to meet with the transitional government and caretaker officials. Pedersen expressed hope for swift sanctions relief, which he believes is critical for Syria’s reconstruction. “We need to see international support rallying behind efforts to rebuild Syria,” he said.
As Israel presses forward with its settlement expansion in the Golan Heights, tensions in the region remain high, with both sides signaling a preference to avoid direct conflict but pursuing policies that could lead to greater instability. The next steps by both the Israeli government and Syria’s transitional leadership will be closely watched by the international community.