On Sunday, heavy machinery was once again operating in southern Syria’s Quneitra province: Israeli occupation forces resumed earthworks for the “Sufa-53” project on the outskirts of Al-Asha village. According to a correspondent for Syria Now, vehicles were seen digging the ground and building earthen embankments, with the work recorded west of Al-Asha. This occurred alongside new incursions by Israeli forces into the villages of Saida al-Joulan and Abidin in the western part of Daraa province on Saturday.
“Sufa-53” is a military engineering project that Israel is carrying out in the countryside of Quneitra, inside the separation zone. It began in mid-2022 from the outskirts of Hadar toward the villages of Jabata al-Khashab and Hamidiya in the north, then continued through Qahtaniya, Ruwayhina, Bir Ajam and Briqa in the central area, and has now reached Al-Asha in southern Quneitra. According to the Sijill Center, which monitors Israeli operations in Syria, the project includes an eight-meter-wide road reinforced by five-meter-high earthen embankments, as well as observation posts and trenches along the route in the buffer zone near the occupied Golan Heights.
The project is linked to the 1974 Agreement on the Disengagement of Forces between Syria and Israel, concluded after the October 1973 war. It established the “Alpha” and “Bravo” lines between Syrian and Israeli positions, with a buffer zone between them monitored by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). After the fall of the regime on December 8, 2024, Israel intensified its work, taking advantage of the security vacuum: incursions into the buffer zone extended from 300 to 1,000 meters. As a result, large areas of agricultural land were seized—7,000 dunams (about 700 hectares) near Jabata al-Khashab and 6,000 dunams (about 600 hectares) near Hamidiya and Hurriya—while vegetation, grazing land and wild trees that had provided local residents with a source of income were almost completely destroyed.
After Bashar al-Assad was overthrown on December 8, 2024, Israel declared the collapse of the 1974 agreement and occupied Syria’s buffer zone. Damascus, in turn, reaffirmed its commitment to the agreement and demanded the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the occupied Syrian territories. In August, the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported on the “New East” project—Israeli fortifications on the Golan Heights. According to the report, the army had completed 80% of the trench digging along the buffer zone, from Majdal Shams to the Yarmouk basin in Daraa province. The projects significantly overlap: “New East” is intended to fortify the entire Israeli-Syrian border with trenches four meters deep and wide, high earthen embankments, a system of ditches designed to delay enemy infantry, and a security strip containing approximately nine company-level checkpoints and patrols in villages and open areas, particularly in the southern Golan sector.
Amid the escalation on Saturday, occupation forces opened fire on homes in Saida al-Joulan during the incursion and, according to the SANA news agency, attacked several journalists covering the raid. Earlier that day, they shelled the outskirts of Abidin in Daraa province.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly in September, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa said that since the fall of the regime, Israel had carried out around 500 air and artillery strikes, conducted more than 1,200 incursions, and made approximately 300 arrests and detentions of Syrians. He reaffirmed Syria’s commitment to the 1974 Agreement on the Disengagement of Forces, called on Israel to withdraw to the lines of December 8, 2024, and stressed: “The Golan Heights will remain Syrian land.”
News Comments
What are the “Alpha” and “Bravo” lines, and how are they connected to the Golan buffer zone? — The “Alpha” and “Bravo” lines are demarcation lines established by the 1974 Agreement on Disengagement between Israel and Syria. “Alpha” runs on the Israeli side, while “Bravo” runs on the Syrian side. The space between them forms the separation zone, or buffer zone, where the parties are prohibited from maintaining a military presence and which is patrolled by UNDOF.
What is UNDOF, and why does its presence not prevent Israeli engineering work in the separation zone? — UNDOF is the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, established in 1974 to monitor compliance with the agreement between Israel and Syria, patrol the separation zone and the areas of limitation on armaments. Its mandate is observational rather than enforcement-based: peacekeepers are not authorized to use force to prevent violations. They can only document them, report them to the UN Security Council and negotiate with the parties. Therefore, UNDOF’s presence does not prevent Israeli engineering work if Israel carries it out; the response is limited to protests and reports.
What is the Sijill Center, and why is its data on the “Sufa-53” project considered an important source? — The Sijill Center is a Syrian documentation and research center that collects and analyzes information about violations in the occupied Syrian territories, including the Golan Heights. Its data on the “Sufa-53” project—Israel’s plan to build 53 wind turbines on the Golan Heights—is considered an important source because it is based on documentary materials, satellite imagery and local testimony. The data reveals the project’s scale, aims and consequences for the occupied territory and may be used for diplomatic and legal efforts to oppose Israeli expansion.
Full version: The Israeli army resumes work on the “Sufa 53” project in the Golan Heights—what do we know about it?