Daijiworld Media Network - Syria

Syria, Feb 25: Residents of Suwaisah, a small farming village in southeastern Syria, are living in fear after repeated Israeli military incursions that began in late December. Israeli forces entered the village, leveling an abandoned Syrian military outpost and demanding that locals surrender weapons, villagers reported.

For weeks, the community feared an attack, following similar Israeli actions in nearby towns. The raids, described by Israel as security measures, have raised concerns about an extended occupation, particularly after Israel seized a demilitarized buffer zone in the Golan Heights.

"We were afraid of being displaced," said Ruwayda al-Aqaar, recalling the night when tanks and bulldozers approached her home. Villagers confronted the soldiers, chanting for Israel to leave, while others symbolically held olive branches in peace.

The incursions come after the fall of the Assad regime, with Israel citing security concerns over a power vacuum in the region. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has indicated that the occupied lands will remain under Israeli control “until another arrangement is found.”

However, the raids have drawn international condemnation, with the United Nations calling for Syria’s sovereignty to be respected. Local Syrians, already weary from years of conflict, fear that their newfound freedom may be replaced by another form of control.

"We don’t know what their goal is," said Hassan Muhammad, a resident of Al-Dawayah Al-Kabirah, another village raided by Israeli forces. "But we just got rid of one tyrant, and we don’t want another."