Satellite images show Israel building military bases in Syria buffer zone

Images verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad unit shed light on Israel’s plans after it expanded area of control in Syria.

Israel is building military bases in the demilitarised buffer zone with Syria, according to satellite images seen by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification unit.

The images were taken between December 19, 2024, just 11 days after Syria’s deposed President Bashar Al-Assad fled to Moscow, and February 1, 2025. They show six sites constructed in that time inside the buffer zone. Another is being constructed outside the buffer zone and inside Syrian territory.

Sanad also found road construction work on the sites.

(Al Jazeera)

The seven sites are located west of Hadar village, west of Jabata al-Khashab, north of al-Hamidyah, Quneitra village, south of Lake Aziz (two sites), and above Tal al-Ahmar.

Israel and Syria struck a ceasefire agreement in 1974 that determined the area, in the Golan Heights, would be a demilitarised buffer zone. But shortly after news emerged that the al-Assad regime had fallen after more than 50 years of dynastic rule, the Israeli military began moving within the buffer zone and entered Syrian territory that lies outside it.

That was despite Syria’s new transitional President Ahmed al-Sharaa making clear that his new administration would recognise the 1974 agreement with Israel.

“Syria’s war-weary condition, after years of conflict and war, does not allow for new confrontations,” he said on December 14, 2024. “The priority at this stage is reconstruction and stability, not being drawn into disputes that could lead to further destruction.”

However, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the 1974 agreement was struck with a deposed regime and is therefore invalid.

“We will not allow any hostile force to establish itself on our border,” Netanyahu said. The new Syrian administration is largely made up of members of the now-dissolved Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a group that formerly had links to al-Qaeda, but which has sought to cast a more moderate image in recent years, and particularly after the overthrow of al-Assad.

Syrian citizens in and near the demilitarised zone have complained of Israeli encroachment on their land as well as checkpoints, unauthorised arrests, housing raids, and road closures. Israel’s military claims it is acting to eliminate threats against its citizens.

Israel initially declared that the incursions would be temporary, but the building of bases brings that claim into question.

Instead, taken along with Israel’s assertion that it would remain on top of Mount Hermon – which lies in Syria – indefinitely, and its track record of annexing the occupied Golan Heights, the Israelis could potentially be planning to stay in the newly-entered areas for the long haul.