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 The IDF has withdrawn from most of southern Lebanon and most of Gaza.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, Erdoğan 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.
