Syrian villagers bristle at Israeli incursions

Now, some of these villages are pushing back against what they fear could become a prolonged Israeli occupation.

Protests have broken out in recent days in some southern Syrian villages against the Israeli military presence. Online footage showed crowds carrying Free Syria flags throwing stones on Dec. 20 in the direction of Israeli military vehicles in the border village of Maariyah. Some villages are also refusing to turn in their arms to Israeli forces, saying they would hand them over only to Syrian government forces.

A young man was shot and wounded in the Maariyah protests as the Israeli military tried to push back the demonstrators. People who took part in the protest said that Israeli forces through loudspeakers had warned the demonstrators to back off before opening fire. In another protest in the village of Sweisa on Wednesday, the Israeli military said it fired warning shots toward angry protesters who came close to them, an incident in which locals said several people were wounded.

Residents of some villages have complained that their mobility and access to essential goods such as food, water and electricity has been disrupted by Israel’s presence in the area. Some have accused Israeli forces of preventing farmers from accessing their fields. The heads of eight villages in Quneitra province signed a shared statement demanding Israeli forces go back.

“It is generating fear, upset, anger," said Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, a Syria expert and fellow at the Middle East Forum, a Philadelphia-based think tank, referring to the Israeli military presence in Syrian territory. “The longer this goes on the bigger the fear is this will turn into an armed confrontation."

Israel seized the buffer zone, including a strategic mountain top, to build a bigger cushion between its citizens and whatever power emerges in Syria following the ouster of Bashar al-Assad as president on Dec. 8. But its incursions in Syrian territory risk an armed confrontation in the area, which could morph into a flashpoint with Syria’s future rulers. Israel’s moves have already drawn criticism from the United Nations, and European and Arab governments.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military’s presence in Syria is temporary and aimed at securing the border until another arrangement is found. Israeli officials say that the objective is to ensure villages near the border are free of weapons looted after the Syrian army collapsed, and that the Israeli forces are trying to negotiate disarmament in a peaceful way and with a limited military presence in populated areas.

Israeli forces have entered several villages about a mile beyond the buffer zone, taking over some abandoned Syrian outposts and crisscrossing rural areas with personnel carriers and tanks, according to residents and online images verified by Storyful, which is owned by News Corp, The Wall Street Journal’s parent company.

Many residents who have closely followed the Israeli military campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon say they are distrustful of the forces they see in their villages.

Israel has established military corridors and extensive infrastructure inside the Gaza Strip following more than a year of war there, which began after last year’s Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas-led militants in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people. Israel says its invasion into Lebanon is meant to push Hezbollah back from its northern border and safeguard Israel against another potential ground infiltration by its enemies.

Dirar al-Bashir, a former governor of Quneitra and a signatory of the shared statement by eight border villages calling for Israelis to retreat from the area, said he was summoned to a meeting with the Israeli army in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, where military officials tried to negotiate handing over weapons.

At the meeting, which Bashir said lasted many hours, he noted that an Israeli military official told him that Israel wanted peace with Syria. “We told him peace doesn’t come through force or invasion but through restoring rights, good neighborliness, and mutual interests," Bashir said.

Bashir said that Israeli soldiers had seized the high ground around the towns, and that barriers now isolate villages, making movement difficult and sometimes impossible. Heavy military vehicles have damaged roads and infrastructure in some areas, temporarily cutting off electricity, power and phone lines. “Some villages went 10 days without water, as Israel cut off supplies," Bashir said. “There are ongoing clashes between them and the locals."

The Israeli military didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the protests it is facing in southern Syria and on Bashir’s claims.

While Israel is concerned about the possibility of anarchy on its border, it “could create a self-fulfilling prophecy if they don’t withdraw and or come to some agreement with the new government," said Aaron Zelin, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and author of a recent book on Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the rebel group that led the recent offensive against Assad.

HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has been meeting with diplomats from around the world as he attempts to transition his fighting force to a governing power. Sharaa, a U.S.-designated terrorist who shed the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, has appeared to avoid friction with Israel, at least for now.

Sharaa took more than a week to condemn Israeli attacks on Syrian military installations and its presence inside Syria. “There is no justification for the Israelis to bomb Syrian facilities or advance inside Syria," he told reporters this month, adding that he had no desire to go to war against Israel. Israel remains deeply distrustful of HTS and its leaders because of their past ties to jihadist groups, including al Qaeda, Israeli officials say.

Sharaa could be pressured to change his views if the situation on the ground deteriorates, analysts warn.

Eyal Zisser, chair of contemporary Middle East history at Tel Aviv University, warned that tensions could flare if civilians are hurt in any incident involving Israeli forces. “At a certain point a tank of ours will accidentally run over people there. People will become upset," he said.

Iyad Naser, the uncle of the 19-year-old man shot in Friday’s protest, Maher Hussein, said that his nephew was forced to undergo three costly surgeries. And although the crowds quickly dispersed following the incident, it didn’t quell the villagers’ concerns.

“As of now, the military vehicles are still entering and exiting the area," Naser said. “People are afraid that things might worsen in their regions."

Write to Anat Peled at anat.peled@wsj.com