It's been over 18 months since Assad fell.
And Israeli boots are still on Syrian soil.
On Saturday, the IDF says it killed several armed terrorists inside what it calls the "Security Zone" in southern Syria.
A short statement. A familiar phrase. A pattern by now.
Rewind to December 2024.
Bashar al-Assad's regime collapses. Decades of rule, gone in days.
Israel moves fast.
Troops roll into the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights — the strip that had separated Israeli and Syrian forces for half a century.
Then they go further.
Earlier this month, Defence Minister Israel Katz said the quiet part loud.
👉 Israeli troops will stay in Syria "for an unlimited period."
Same for Lebanon. Same for Gaza.
Unlimited. Let that word sit.
Since late 2024, Israel has been busy:
Critics call it gradual annexation.
Israel calls it self-defence.
Despite the bullets and bombs…
Israel and Syria's new authorities are actually talking.
Multiple rounds. Direct. Face to face.
They've even agreed to set up an intelligence-sharing mechanism — inching toward a real security deal.
But Syria's new leader Ahmad al-Sharaa hasn't held back, accusing Israel of acting with "brutality."
The talks are reportedly stalling.
Katz didn't stop at Syria.
He sent a message to Tehran too: hit us over Lebanon, and we hit back with "full force."
The US-Iran ceasefire — the one Pakistan mediated in mid-June — is already cracking under tit-for-tat strikes.
The Golan was captured in 1967.
Annexed later. Never recognised by most of the world.
Now a new buffer is being drawn — quietly, kilometre by kilometre, "terrorist" by "terrorist."
The map of the Middle East is being redrawn in real time.
Not with treaties.
With tanks.
That's all for now!
