Israel bombed Damascus and Suwayda again on 16 July 2025. The strikes did more than hurt Syria’s fragile new government. They also showed how Israel links land and water to its security.

Since Israel took the Golan Heights in 1967 and accepted a UN buffer line in 1974, its leaders have tried to push every threat farther from the plateau. Over the last year, that quiet policy became open digging. Satellite photos show Israeli bulldozers cutting new roads, trenches and fences inside the zone that the 1974 deal said must stay free of heavy weapons. UN peacekeepers call these works serious violations.

Israel gains two quick benefits. First, forward posts near Druze villages and Mount Hermon give its army more time to spot rockets or drones before they can aim at the Galilee below. Second, Israeli forces can strike Iranian or Hezbollah trucks using the Suwayda‑Quneitra road, a supply line Iran built during the Syrian war. When Druze fighters and Bedouin tribes clashed in Suwayda on 13 July, Israeli jets hit Syrian tanks nearby and, hours later, a defence ministry building in........

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