JUBATA AL-KHASSAB, Syria — As the Israeli military swept into a string of Syrian villages in December, the soldiers assured locals that the presence would be temporary — the aim limited to seizing weapons and securing the area after the collapse of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
But the earthmoving vehicles that followed suggest a more permanent presence.
“They are building military bases. How is that temporary?” asked Mohammed Muraiwid, the mayor of Jubata al-Khassab, who has watched Israel troops construct a new military outpost on the edge of his village.
Satellite imagery examined by The Post shows more than half a dozen structures and vehicles in the walled Israeli base, with nearly identical construction five miles to the south. Both are linked by new dirt roads to territory in the Golan Heights that Israel captured in its 1967 war with its Arab neighbors. An area of cleared land, which experts say appears to be the beginnings of a third base, is visible another few miles south.
Hours after President Assad’s grip on his country crumbled in December, Israeli tanks and troops broke through the “Alpha line” that has marked the ceasefire boundary over the past half-century and moved into a United Nations-patrolled buffer zone inside Syrian territory, and in some cases beyond.
The two new construction sites, located within what had until recently been Syrian-controlled territory, appear to be forward observation bases, similar in structure and style to those in the Israeli-held part of the Golan Heights, said William Goodhind, an imagery analyst at Contested Ground. The base in Jubata al-Khassab is more fully developed, while the one to the south appears to be under construction. The former would provide better visibility for troops, while the latter has better access to the area’s road network, as would a third base if built on the area of cleared land farther south, he said. The BBC originally reported construction at the site in Jubata al-Khassab.
