Published : 28-02-2025
Fayez Abu Eid | Action Group
As tensions escalate in southern Syria, the border areas have witnessed repeated incursions by Israeli forces towards the Daraa area near the capital Damascus, in a new occupation of lands added to the Golan Heights that it has occupied for years in the southwest of the country, casting a dark shadow over the humanitarian conditions of the population, including Palestinian refugees who have become new victims of this escalation.
These operations, which raise questions about the extent of respect for international resolutions, have increased the severity of the crisis in communities that were hoping to regain some stability after years of unrest. Palestinians, who found refuge in southern Syria after their first displacement in 1948, are now facing a renewed threat of displacement. The ongoing bombardment and deteriorating security conditions have forced many families to leave their homes in search of safety inside Syria or in neighboring countries, deepening their psychological and material wounds. Homes have been destroyed and properties have been lost, leaving these families back to square one, after they had just begun to regain some of their normal lives following the political changes that Syria witnessed.
The repercussions of this incursion were not limited to material losses, but extended to include a state of fear and constant anxiety that has become an obsession that haunts the residents. With the absence of any guarantees for a stable and secure future, they are now stuck between the hammer of the Israeli incursion and the anvil of internal conflicts, exposed to the risk of death or displacement at any moment.
The current reality paints a different picture. Palestinians in southern Syria have become defenseless, victims of political tensions that exceed their ability to confront. As these operations continue without any signs of a comprehensive political solution, fears are growing that this community will face a tragic fate that may reach the point of complete disappearance.
Today, there is an urgent need for international and regional intervention to ensure the protection of these civilians. The Israeli incursion not only brings back memories of the first Nakba, but also places the Palestinians and their Syrian brothers before a new chapter of suffering that may be the harshest, in the absence of any clear hope for a just solution to their cause. If the international community does not act quickly, history may record this moment as one of the darkest chapters of this protracted crisis.
Since the June 5, 1967 war, Israel has occupied 1,150 square kilometers of the total area of the Syrian Golan Heights (southwest), which amounts to 1,800 square kilometers, and in 1981 it announced its annexation in a move that is not recognized by the international community.
Israel took advantage of the recent developments and occupied the Syrian buffer zone in Quneitra Governorate, declaring the collapse of the 1974 disengagement agreement, in a move condemned by the United Nations and Arab countries.
Fayez Abu Eid | Action Group
As tensions escalate in southern Syria, the border areas have witnessed repeated incursions by Israeli forces towards the Daraa area near the capital Damascus, in a new occupation of lands added to the Golan Heights that it has occupied for years in the southwest of the country, casting a dark shadow over the humanitarian conditions of the population, including Palestinian refugees who have become new victims of this escalation.
These operations, which raise questions about the extent of respect for international resolutions, have increased the severity of the crisis in communities that were hoping to regain some stability after years of unrest. Palestinians, who found refuge in southern Syria after their first displacement in 1948, are now facing a renewed threat of displacement. The ongoing bombardment and deteriorating security conditions have forced many families to leave their homes in search of safety inside Syria or in neighboring countries, deepening their psychological and material wounds. Homes have been destroyed and properties have been lost, leaving these families back to square one, after they had just begun to regain some of their normal lives following the political changes that Syria witnessed.
The repercussions of this incursion were not limited to material losses, but extended to include a state of fear and constant anxiety that has become an obsession that haunts the residents. With the absence of any guarantees for a stable and secure future, they are now stuck between the hammer of the Israeli incursion and the anvil of internal conflicts, exposed to the risk of death or displacement at any moment.
The current reality paints a different picture. Palestinians in southern Syria have become defenseless, victims of political tensions that exceed their ability to confront. As these operations continue without any signs of a comprehensive political solution, fears are growing that this community will face a tragic fate that may reach the point of complete disappearance.
Today, there is an urgent need for international and regional intervention to ensure the protection of these civilians. The Israeli incursion not only brings back memories of the first Nakba, but also places the Palestinians and their Syrian brothers before a new chapter of suffering that may be the harshest, in the absence of any clear hope for a just solution to their cause. If the international community does not act quickly, history may record this moment as one of the darkest chapters of this protracted crisis.
Since the June 5, 1967 war, Israel has occupied 1,150 square kilometers of the total area of the Syrian Golan Heights (southwest), which amounts to 1,800 square kilometers, and in 1981 it announced its annexation in a move that is not recognized by the international community.
Israel took advantage of the recent developments and occupied the Syrian buffer zone in Quneitra Governorate, declaring the collapse of the 1974 disengagement agreement, in a move condemned by the United Nations and Arab countries.
