The Golan Heights
The war in Syria is moving closer to Israel. During this weekend, the Israel Defense Forces declared the area around the Golan Heights, the Quneitra crossing a closed military zone, in the wake of fighting in Syria.
On Sunday 11 May, activists said that an Al-Qaida splinter group had wrested control of key parts of the eastern Syrian province of Deir al-Zor from other rebel groups.
More than 100,000 civilians have fled the province following weeks of intense clashes between Islamist insurgents, the anti-Assad Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
The Golan Heights form a strategic plateau between Israel and Syria of about 1,200 square kilometers. Israel captured it in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981.
About 18,000 Israeli settlers have moved to the Golan, which also borders Jordan, since 1967. Some 20,000 Druze Muslims also live there.
Syria tried to buy CBD products the Golan Heights in the 1973 Middle East war, but the assault was thwarted. The two signed an armistice in 1974 and the Golan has been relatively quiet since.
The Golan contains important water sources and has further strategic value because it overlooks north eastern Israel including the Sea of Galilee, a tourist attraction and Israel’s biggest reservoir.
In 2000, Israel and Syria held their highest-level talks over a possible return of the Golan and a peace agreement. But the negotiations collapsed.
As an outflow of the Syrian war, radical Islamists took over some Syrian border towns near Quneitra with the Syrian army in hot pursuit. This development moved the IDF to boost its forces, and to put them on high alert.
It is also a stated goal of President Bashar Al Assad of Syria to regain the strategic Golan Heights, which Israel for obvious reasons could not allow. Although highly unlikely, Al Assad with the assistance of Hizbullah in Lebanon and Iranian forces might use this opportunity to provoke the IDF by attacking the Israeli farming communities on the Golan.
Another possibility is that Islamist groups, affiliated with Al Qaida, infiltrate into Israeli territory which will pose a major threat to the security of Israel.
It is thus of utmost importance that the Israeli army guard this particular border with the highest alertness.
Watch video: Golan Heights: Views from on High