Netanyahu Moves to Expand Illegal Israeli Settlements in Syrian Golan Heights

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel would move to expand settlements in the occupied and illegally annexed Golan Heights, exploiting the collapse of the Assad government to further entrench its control of Syrian land.

Netanyahu said in a statement Sunday that "strengthening" the Golan Heights is synonymous with "strengthening the state of Israel" and declared that "we will continue to hold onto it, make it flourish, and settle in it."

According to Netanyahu's office, the Israeli government "unanimously approved" the prime minister's push to double the settler population in the Golan Heights.

There are currently dozens of Israeli settlements housing roughly 20,000 people in the territory, the bulk of which Israel unlawfully annexed in 1981 after occupying it during the 1967 war.

Israel's settlement expansion plan sparked outrage from countries in the region, with Turkey's foreign ministry condemning the decision Sunday as "a new stage in Israel's goal of expanding its borders through occupation."

The foreign ministry of Saudi Arabia accused Israel of "sabotaging" Syria's "prospects for restoring its security and stability."

"The kingdom reaffirms that the occupied Golan is Syrian, Arab land," the ministry added.

Israel's military has wasted no time advancing on Syrian territory in the wake of Assad's fall. As Drop Site noted over the weekend, "Israeli tanks have advanced into villages and towns in Syria's Quneitra governorate, across from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, damaging streets, cutting down trees, and destroying electricity poles."

"Israel ordered residents to evacuate their homes. When many refused, Israeli forces destroyed water supply networks and power lines in an attempt to force them out," the outlet added.

On Saturday, as The Guardian reported, "Israel struck dozens of sites in Syria overnight with airstrikes" after the Israeli defense minister announced the country's forces "would remain for the winter on Mount Hermon—known to Syrians as Jabel Sheikh—in positions they occupied last week."

Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the leader of the rebel group that helped drive Assad from power, denounced Israel's "uncalculated military adventures" but said that "the priority at this stage is reconstruction and stability, not being drawn into disputes that could lead to further destruction."

"Syria's war-weary condition, after years of conflict and war, does not allow for new confrontations," he said.

Israel's push for settlement expansion in the Golan Heights comes amid the country's large-scale, catastrophic assault on the Gaza Strip, which Israeli forces are preparing to occupy indefinitely.

President-elect Donald Trump's return to power in the United States is expected to embolden the far-right forces in Netanyahu's government that are seeking to return settlements to Gaza and annex the West Bank.

Netanyahu said in a video statement that he had "a very friendly, warm, and important discussion" with Trump late Saturday about the future of the Middle East.

"I said we would change the Middle East and we are doing so," the prime minister said. "I discussed with President-elect Trump the need to complete the victory."