By: Fern Sidman

As conflict continues to reshape the Middle East, Israel is quietly carving out a new security doctrine in Syria. On Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel is working to establish a demilitarized zone stretching from the Golan Heights to the outskirts of Damascus, while simultaneously preparing a humanitarian corridor to support Syria’s Druze minority.

The announcement, delivered during Netanyahu’s visit to Julis in Israel’s north, where he met with Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, the spiritual leader of Israel’s Druze community, marks one of the most ambitious and complex initiatives of Israel’s regional policy since the Yom Kippur War.

Speaking with unusual candor, Netanyahu outlined the goals: defend Syria’s Druze population in Sweida and beyond; create a buffer security zone to block Iranian-backed militias from entrenching near Israel’s border; and establish a humanitarian corridor for the delivery of food, building materials, and large-scale medical aid.

As The Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) reported on Thursday, Netanyahu linked the mission directly to Israel’s historic responsibilities, invoking the memory of the Holocaust in his remarks:

“At the height of the atrocities, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif called me and said: ‘The Jews in the Holocaust cried out for help and no one came. Israel must come.’ It was like an arrow straight to the heart. Because it is not only factually true, it is also morally true, humanly true,” Netanyahu said.

The prime minister’s statement comes amid a wave of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) operations in southern Syria. Defense Minister Israel Katz hinted earlier Thursday at Israeli military activity following Arab media reports of multiple strikes near Damascus.

“Our forces are operating in all combat zones day and night for the security of Israel,” Katz wrote on X, signaling that Jerusalem has intensified its campaign in Syria as part of its multi-front defense strategy.

Syrian state media acknowledged that Israeli ground forces conducted a rare raid at a site already hit by airstrikes earlier in the week. According to Arab media, troops remained in the area for more than two hours overnight, suggesting an effort not only to strike but also to collect intelligence.

As the JNS report observed, the scope of operations reflects Israel’s determination to prevent Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies from turning Syria into another forward base for attacks against Israeli territory.

Reports in Israel Hayom and relayed by JNS detail the breadth of Israel’s operations this week. Over a two-day period, the Israeli Air Force carried out at least 15 strikes in southern Damascus, striking Syrian army headquarters and staging areas. These strikes reportedly prepared the way for IDF helicopter landings in Sweida and Al-Kiswah, areas where pro-Iranian militias have been active.

Israeli drones targeted an army unit near Al-Kiswah on Tuesday, killing at least six Syrian soldiers, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). The Syrian Foreign Ministry later raised the toll to eight. State television reported that the same site was struck again the following day.

The attacks appear to have been linked to intelligence-gathering operations. A government source told SANA that Syrian forces discovered “surveillance and eavesdropping devices” in the area prior to the strikes. Israel Hayom, citing defense sources, suggested that the raid was designed to prevent Syrian forces from dismantling Israeli-installed listening equipment.

According to the MENA Research Center and corroborated by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the targeted base at Tal Maneh had been repurposed by pro-Iranian groups, including Hezbollah, and contained advanced weapons. Two years earlier, Israeli jets struck similar Iranian positions in the same sector.

For Netanyahu, however, the strategic and the humanitarian dimensions are inseparable. Addressing Sheikh Tarif and Druze leaders, he described the protection of the Druze minority as a moral imperative.

“We are brothers. Would Israel not extend a hand to save our Druze brothers? And we acted. When I understood the magnitude of the disaster, we acted immediately,” Netanyahu said.

JNS has reported extensively on the plight of the Syrian Druze in the Sweida region, who have faced increasing violence at the hands of militias aligned with the Assad regime and Iranian elements. In recent months, local Druze communities have reported massacres, kidnappings, and assaults, leading to fears of ethnic cleansing.

By committing to the creation of a humanitarian corridor, Israel is signaling not only a willingness to deliver aid but also to extend a protective umbrella for an embattled minority just across its border.

Defense Minister Katz tied the Syrian operations explicitly to the lessons of October 7, when Hamas breached Israel’s border and massacred over 1,200 civilians in the Negev.

“IDF troops will remain in their positions on Mount Hermon and in the security zone to protect the communities of the Golan and the Galilee from threats emanating from the Syrian side, as the central lesson from the events of October 7,” Katz said.

As the JNS report noted, the message is clear: Israel cannot afford to allow hostile forces to build up near its borders. The same rationale that has driven the IDF’s operations in Gaza and its preemptive strikes in Lebanon now animates its growing presence in Syria.

Unsurprisingly, Damascus has condemned the strikes. SANA reported casualties and accused Israel of violating sovereignty, while a Syrian Defense Ministry official confirmed to AFP that one of the targeted sites had been a former Assad regime base now operated by Iranian-aligned forces.

Yet even as the military confrontation escalates, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has suggested that negotiations with Israel could resume under certain conditions. He referenced the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement that ended the Yom Kippur War, noting that Syria is prepared to reimplement the terms of that arrangement.

Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani echoed this sentiment after speaking with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, declaring Syria’s readiness to return to the disengagement framework.

Analysts cited by JNS view these statements with skepticism, pointing out that Damascus remains dependent on Iran and its proxies, limiting its ability to strike an independent course. Nonetheless, the rhetorical overture indicates that Israel’s strikes—and the potential creation of a demilitarized zone—are reshaping the diplomatic calculus in the region.

Israel’s operations in Syria represent the most significant extension of its security perimeter since the early 1980s. By controlling Mount Hermon and a buffer stretching south toward Damascus, Israel aims to push hostile forces back while securing its vulnerable northern communities.

As the JNS report indicated, this evolving security architecture reflects Israel’s determination to never again be surprised as it was on October 7. By combining aerial dominance, precision intelligence, and limited ground raids, the IDF is seeking to create conditions in which Hezbollah, Iranian terrorists or remnants of Assad’s forces cannot mass near the Golan Heights.

The proposed humanitarian corridor adds a new dimension. If realized, it would allow Israel not only to deter enemies but also to project soft power, providing aid to Syrian civilians while winning legitimacy among vulnerable communities like the Druze.

Netanyahu’s invocation of the Holocaust in his remarks underscores the moral frame within which Israel views the crisis. The prime minister’s words, reported by JNS, captured both the urgency and the poignancy of the moment: “The Jews in the Holocaust cried out for help and no one came. Israel must come.”

For Netanyahu and many in Israel, this is more than rhetoric. It reflects a national ethos shaped by history: never again to stand by while Jews—or their allies—face annihilation. In extending protection to the Druze, Israel is both securing its own borders and enacting a broader moral obligation.

The establishment of a demilitarized zone and humanitarian corridor will not be without challenges. Iranian-backed militias remain entrenched in southern Syria, and Hezbollah has long used the Damascus countryside as a logistics hub. The risk of escalation with Tehran or Damascus is real.

Moreover, international actors, including Russia and the United States, will watch closely. Moscow, which has military assets in Syria, may be wary of Israeli ground operations, while Washington may welcome the humanitarian dimension but fear broader regional escalation.

Yet, as the JNS report emphasized, Israel has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to act unilaterally when its security is at stake. Just as it has struck hundreds of Iranian targets in Syria over the past decade, it is now moving to institutionalize a security zone that could permanently alter the map of the conflict.

Israel’s plan to establish a demilitarized zone in Syria, coupled with a humanitarian corridor for the Druze, reflects the convergence of three imperatives: security, morality, and strategy.

For security, it creates a buffer to protect the Golan Heights and Galilee communities from hostile forces. For morality, it extends a protective hand to the Druze, echoing lessons of Jewish history. For strategy, it signals to Iran and its proxies that Israel will act decisively to shape the battlefield, not merely react to threats.

As JNS has reported throughout this evolving crisis, the stakes are immense. The outcome of Israel’s initiative in Syria could determine not only the security of its northern frontier but also the contours of the broader struggle between Israel and Iran’s regional axis.

For now, Netanyahu’s message is clear: Israel will not wait for help from others, nor will it allow enemies to mass on its borders. It will act—militarily, diplomatically, and humanely—to ensure both its survival and its values.