By Seth Frantzman | March 9, 2025
IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir visits the Israeli border with Syria on March 9. (IDF)
The new chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, visited northern Israel on March 9 and met with IDF commanders along the border with Syria. According to the IDF, Zamir visited the “area of separation” in Syria, which is along the buffer zone Israeli forces took over after December 8, 2024, when the Bashar al Assad regime fell from power.
Zamir’s visit comes at a unique time. There is a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in Gaza, and Israel and the US are negotiating with Hamas via mediators in Cairo and Doha to extend the pause in fighting and continue the accompanying hostage deal. There is also a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. The IDF has withdrawn from most of southern Lebanon and most of Gaza. As these two fronts have become relatively quiet, the IDF is focused on possible threats from Syria.
Zamir took over as the new military chief of staff on March 5. The visit, his first to northern Israel, included traveling to several areas along the Golan border with Syria. The IDF has bolstered its 210th Division, the primary division deployed in the Golan in the buffer zone. Israeli troops have also taken over the peak of Mount Hermon.
The IDF recently carried out several rounds of airstrikes in southern Syria and demanded that the area become a demilitarized zone. On March 4, the IDF targeted a site called Tell al Mal, according to The New Arab, conducting a raid on a former Syrian regime military post that sits atop a small mountain. It is similar to a site in Tell al Hara that was targeted in late February. The IDF hasn’t commented on the specifics of any of these incidents.
The IDF did say on March 8 that its Paratrooper Brigade, combat engineers, and infantry from the 474th Brigade conducted “targeted raids based on intelligence indications, in Syria.” The 474th is part of the 210th Division. “The troops located, confiscated and dismantled numerous weapons, including rifles, ammunition, missiles, and additional military equipment,” the IDF said. Video showed the men operating at night and using Humvees to traverse the area.
Video released by the IDF of Zamir’s visit showed the military commander touring the area during the day, including visiting what appeared to be freshly dug IDF positions in the buffer zone formed by ceasefire lines from 1974. The IDF said he met with the head of IDF Northern Command, Major General Ori Gordin, and the commander of the 210th Division, Brigadier General Yair Peli. The IDF comptroller is also conducting inspections of IDF Northern Command to examine “readiness, discipline, and operational routine,” the IDF said.
IDF operations in Syria and key meetings of Israeli officers along the border come as Israeli officials are increasingly outspoken about Syria. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz put out a statement on March 9 focusing on recent attacks against civilians in Latakia, where Syrian security forces or affiliated groups are alleged to have carried out atrocities after Assad loyalists ambushed General Security Service (GSS) forces. “Those who keep silent today on the atrocities in Syria forfeit any right to preach,” the ministry posted online.
Israeli Minister of Diaspora and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli also slammed abuses in Syria. “This is the face of a regime led by ISIS terrorists in suits and uniforms. Israel will act to protect the Druze minority in areas near its border, and efforts must be made to defend all minority populations in Syria, with an emphasis on the Kurds,” he wrote. Chikli accused Hayat Tahrir al Sham, whose forces swept to power in Damascus on December 8, 2024, of carrying out a “jihadist genocide. […] The West must make every effort to impose all possible sanctions on this terror regime and its patrons, Erdo?an and Qatar.”
Israel has also continued to express support for the Druze in southern Syria. Katz said that Israel would soon enable Druze from Syria to come to Israel for work in the Golan. There are Druze communities in the Golan, and they share ties with the Druze on the other side of the border since the former used to be part of Syria before 1967.
Looks like it’s over (for now) in Syria:
https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/middle-east/levant-turkey/artc-syrian-government-says-operation-in-coast-finished-after-mass-casualties
@EvRe1
It is not complex at all.
First of all, what is going on is a collective punishment and it is very brutal.
If you saw your dear friend killing innocent people in the middle of the street, who would you help?
Or would you simply stand aside and watch because, after all, he has been your dear friend?
And now in the case of Alawites they are actually BEGGING for help because they are being slaughtered.
EvRe1,
Thanks for posting. The Assad family are /were Alawites so after 54 years of brutality the Alawites are getting what they gave out it looks like.
The Arab Muslims are a “Closed Circle” so in addition to their 7th century religion they are also still tribal and hold grudges as tribes do. Assad’s Party was the Ba’athist Party same as Saddam Hussein.
Israel is blessed with such nice neighbors.
From i24 News comes a letter:
Alawite leaders sent an urgent letter to the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister: “Save us from the brutal regime, we will receive you with songs and flowers.” The letter also includes a surprising appeal to the Israeli media: “Shed light on the massacres”
The letter was sent to senior Israeli officials, among others, through contacts in the region who mediate between the local population and the State of Israel, and was written on behalf of the leadership and senior sheikhs of the Alawites in Syria.
The full letter:
“In his name, Lord Moses, David, Jesus and Muhammad
We, the Alawite clerics, issue the following statement after our meeting in one of the coastal villages:
After the fall of the Assad regime and the assumption of power in Syria by an extremist Islamic group that adopts killing, kidnapping, displacement, and intimidation as a method and way to rule and dominate, and after the massacres and violations that occurred in the Alawite areas against their people in Tartus, Latakia, Homs, Hama, and Damascus, and after the crimes of ethnic genocide with the exception of the State of Israel, which spoke the truth and echoed the truth and condemned these criminal acts.
We declare our demand from the government of Israel, represented by its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to provide protection, assistance, aid and support, because the entire world has been silent about our injustice, and we have only heard a voice from the State of Israel condemning the crimes committed by the Damascus government against the Alawites, and for that we thank it.
We say to the Jewish state, we extend our hands to you and we will be your best and most loyal friends, so that you can rid us of this extremist Islamic rule that will be a place for training and preparing groups from which they will launch their fight against you. In the past, you have suffered from the Islamists and known their crimes, and the treacherous terrorists of Islamic terrorism are the best example of the Hamas movement and terrorism as an example of terrorism and terror. And the Hamas movement is establishing a base in Syria that will be a launching point for action against you.
– We demand that the IDF move its planes and forces to protect us.
– We ask that the Israeli Ministry of Defense move its warships and warships towards the coast.
– We ask that the Israeli Foreign Ministry raise the issue of crimes against the Alawites at the international level.
– We ask from the Israeli media the readiness to shed light on the massacres being committed against us.
You know that the Alawites have never been extremists, terrorists or heretics, but rather moderate, tolerant and believers in human brotherhood. They do not differentiate between Jews, Christians and Muslims.
We are a minority like you in the Middle East, so let us unite against the Islamic tide led by Turkey. First place then help us say goodbye to this extremist Islamic state.
We cannot live with these cruel animals who wear Islam as a cloak.
My sons of David, your origin is gold, and this is what time has proven, help us and we, you are honorable brothers. If you reach the Syrian coast, which is mostly Shalawi, you will be welcomed with songs and flowers. May God bless the honorable State of Israel, its great leaders and its free and honorable people.
We would like to thank Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar for his words about the Alawites and the revenge and harm they are subjected to, something no Arab, Islamic, or international foreign minister has ever done”.
From what I understand, Alawites did attack the government’s forces, and then the Syrian government which is a terrorist group, Hayat Tahrir al Sham, responded harshly with genocide of the Alawite and Christian communities.
Russia and the US have asked for a UN security council meeting today to discuss the situation in Syria.
I do not know the feasibility of Israel responding to the needs of these communities in Syria as Turkey is backing HTS. I don’t know if Israel would be kicking a hornet’s nest and get HTS AND Turkey acting against Israel if Israel should respond to the needs of the Alawites and Christians. On the other hand Israel has often responded with humanitarian aid all over the world and is very experienced in these efforts. Currently Israel IS responding to the needs of the Druze in Syria and possibly the Kurds as well.
What makes this situation so complex is the that because HTS is a Sunni group, they have helped Israel’s efforts to cut off the connection between Iran and Hezbollah that went through Syria for years.