Since Assad fell, Israel has taken control of the demilitarized zone on the Syrian border. Locals complain of incursions, and authorities are watching with alarm the construction of new Israeli military bases on Syrian territory.
"It has been two years, four months, 24 days and five hours" - that's how long Syrian Ahmad Hassan al-Din has not seen his son. He was abducted by Israeli soldiers in April 2024, when he was only 17 years old.
"Saddam had gone to feed the animals early in the morning", Al-Din, who is from the village of Jubata al-Khashab, near the Golan Heights, told DW. "I called him on the phone and he told me that everything was fine. But later we saw with our own eyes how they took him away - in handcuffs and shackles. They claim that he entered the territory of the State of Israel illegally. But this area is our agricultural land and we have permission from the UN to work there," the Syrian explained to DW. The man filmed the soldiers leading his son through the fields, and the authenticity of the video was confirmed by France24.
To enter this buffer zone, Syrian farmers and shepherds need a special pass from UNDOF, the UN peacekeeping mission in Syria. The force was created to ensure that Israeli and Syrian forces maintain a ceasefire after a 1974 agreement.
According to humanitarian organizations, Ahmad Hassan al-Din's son, now 19, is likely in an Israeli prison. DW asked the Israeli army what charges Saddam was facing and under what law, and received a statement from a military spokesman, which was previously sent to other media outlets and human rights organizations. It stated that Israel was detaining Syrians it suspected of being capable of harming the country. The response did not specify whether the army considered the farmer's son to be such a person.
Israel takes control of the border zone
After the fall of the Assad dictatorship in December 2024, Israel took control of the UN-patrolled demilitarized zone. Senior Israeli politicians declared the 1974 agreement invalid and said that troops would remain in the area temporarily to protect Israel from cross-border attacks.
Since then, however, Israel's presence in Syria has become permanent. In November 2025, UNDOF forces told journalists that Israel had established 10 bases in the area. From these bases, Israeli soldiers carry out almost daily raids in the Syrian provinces of Daraa and Quneitra.
"These raids often involve armored patrols in populated areas, then temporary checkpoints are built on main roads, where all passing Syrian civilians are stopped, searched, interrogated, and their phones are checked. In some cases, biometric data is also collected," the Syrian consulting firm "Karam Shaar" reported in January.
Israeli soldiers also raid homes, businesses, and schools, and fence off agricultural land and water sources, locals say. DW has a document from the authorities in Quneitra, according to which Israeli troops confiscate domestic animals and destroy wells with drinking water, garden areas, and buildings. A 65-year-old man from the area tells DW how his home was destroyed by Israeli soldiers.
A violation of international law?
In the past few months, Israeli soldiers have been moving deeper into Syria. The "Sijil" center recorded 818 incidents between August 25 and December 31, 2025, or 45 per week. Since the beginning of this year, the center has counted 1,632 incursions, which is an average of 48 incidents per week.
The "Sijil" center also documents how many Syrians have been detained by Israel. According to its data, about 200 people have been detained since December 2024. Unlike Al-Din's son, most of them were released within 24 hours of being questioned.
It is estimated that between 40 and 50 Syrians are still being held in Israeli prisons, including four or five who were detained before the Syrian government was replaced in 2024.
According to experts, crossing the border by soldiers, detaining citizens of another country and then transferring them to Israeli prisons is a clear violation of international law. Organizations such as "Amnesty International" and "Human Rights Watch" have described Israel's actions in southern Syria as possible war crimes.
Why is Israel doing this?
Since the fall of the previous Syrian government, Israeli politicians have insisted that southern Syria should be a "demilitarized zone". The Israeli army says it "detains individuals who are reasonably suspected of participating in terrorist activities". By preventing attacks and smuggling, the Israeli military also justifies the new military bases it is building. Local residents of Quneitra are unsure whether Israel is trying to occupy their towns or is doing so to put pressure on the Syrian government. The United States has tried to mediate the renewal of the 1974 agreement, but that attempt has failed.
"The first factor determining Israel's approach to Syria is the collective trauma of October 7 - the fear of another cross-border invasion," writes Elizabeth Tsurkov of the "New Lines" Institute. Israel also doubts that the new Syrian government really does not want to fight and is not planning attacks, as it claims. "Since Israel perceives the government in Damascus as jihadist and subordinate to Turkey, the Israeli authorities have an interest in it being weak enough not to pose a threat to it," Tsurkov also wrote.
This week, Israeli fighter jets bombed the Abu Duhur air base in northern Syria. After the attack, the Syrian foreign minister told the American publication Axios that progress had been made towards reaching an agreement on security, but that Israel had withdrawn from the negotiations. "Security cannot be one-way," he said.
Will Israel retain control of the territory?
The Syrian think tank Etana also points to other reasons for Israel's actions in Syria. Among them is control of Mount Hermon, the highest in Syria, which allows observation of Lebanon. The security of water resources may also play a role. "Since its intervention in Syria after the fall of Assad, Israel now has direct control or indirect access to most of the water resources - in Quneitra and the western part of Daraa," the organization's analysis states.
Recent history shows that the security zones that Israel controls often become permanently occupied or annexed territories, warns H.A. Hellyer of the Royal United Services Institute in London. He adds that the Syrians have very limited military options, which is why they rely on diplomacy.
According to Hellyer, Israel is taking advantage of its superiority like many other "strong states": "Essentially, it means they are dominant. They have the ability to do whatever they want. No one has the opportunity to say "no" to them, and laws and rules are completely ignored, without seeking any consensus."