Golan Heights: What’s this disputed land between Israel and Syria? Why does it matter?

A possibility of an all-out war between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah looms large on the horizon after a deadly rocket attack on a football pitch in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights killed 12 children on Saturday

While Israel has pointed fingers at Hezbollah, stating that the rocket was fired from Shebaa, a small village just a short distance away across the western flank of Mt Hermon, which towers over Majdal Shams, the Iran-backed group has denied responsibility for the strike.

The Benjamin Netanyahu-led country has said that Hezbollah will “pay the price” for the attack; warplanes have conducted airstrikes against Hezbollah targets inside Lebanese territory and along the border on Sunday, read a statement from the Israeli military on Sunday morning.

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The rocket strike is being deemed as the deadliest against Israeli or Israeli-annexed territory since the massacre carried out by Hamas on October 7 last year that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.

But why is the Golan Heights in the firing line and what is the significance of the 1,200 square km rocky plateau in southwestern Syria that also overlooks Lebanon and borders Jordan?

What is the Golan Heights?

Golan Heights is a rocky plateau in southwestern Syria, about 60 km away from the capital, Damascus. Rich in water, the Golan Heights overlooks northern Israel’s Galilee region and the Sea of Galilee and dominates the route to Damascus on the Syrian-controlled side. Importantly, the Golan Heights shares a border with Jordan and Lebanon.

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Also known as Jawlan in Arabic, Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the closing stages of the 1967 Six-Day War. Most of the Syrian Arab inhabitants fled the area during the conflict.

Syria tried to regain the Heights in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war but was unsuccessful in its efforts. In the following year, a ceasefire agreement was signed between Israel and Syria, leaving most of the area in Israeli hands.

In 1981, Israel annexed the area and passed the Golan Heights Law, which extended Israel’s “laws, jurisdiction and administration” to the area. A United Nations Security Council resolution has declared the occupation of the Golan Heights null and void. Even Syria continues to demand it be returned.

However, in 2019 former US President Donald Trump said Washington would recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights — a move that overturned years of policy and worsened tensions with Syria, reports CNN.

Who lives in the Golan Heights?

As of date, around 40,000 people inhabit the Golan Heights, more than half of them being Druze Arabs. But who exactly is the Druze?

The Druze Arabs are a unique religious and ethnic group. Their tradition dates back to the 11th Century and incorporates elements of Islam, Hinduism and even classical Greek philosophy. They don’t allow for conversion either to or from the religion – and no intermarriage.

As per an Indian Express report, the Druze have remained loyal to the regimes of Bashar al-Assad and his father Hafez al-Assad over the decades. When Israel annexing the Golan, the Druze were given the option of citizenship, but most rejected it and still identify themselves as Syrian.

Presently, over 20,000 Druze live in the Golan Heights and share the land with around 25,000 Jewish Israelis, spread across more than 30 settlements. In 2023, the UN Human Rights Council had sounded alarms over Israel’s plan to double their settler population there by 2027.

A UN report has cited that the Druze in the Golan face discriminatory policies by the Israelis when it comes to land and water in the region. Druze leaders also report that they are treated like second-class citizens in the area. It is perhaps for this reason that Israeli media shows a rise in the number of Druze seeking citizenship in Israel. From 75 in 2017 to 239 in 2021 — revealed data.

Why is the Golan important to Israel?

The answer to this is security. The high altitude of the Golan Heights provides Israel with observation points deep into Syria — a country with which Israel has strained ties. Israel also states that maintaining the Golan helps in having a buffer zone between the Israeli towns and Damascus.

Tel Aviv has also said that it fears Iran, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is seeking to establish itself permanently on the Syrian side of the border in order to launch attacks on Israel.

After the 1974 ceasefire agreement, there’s also a demilitarised buffer zone of 400 square km which neither side can enter. The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) and United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO) have camps and posts in the area.

The Golan Heights is also home to significant water sources such as the Banyas, which feed the Jordan River. In an arid area, water is a key resource. Moreover, the Golan is also home to Israel’s only ski resort.

What happened on Saturday?

On Saturday (July 27), 12 people, identified to be children, and another 30 were injured when a rocket struck a football pitch in the town of the Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights.

Israel and the US said that intelligence revealed that the attack was perpetrated by the Lebanese Hezbollah. US National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said that it “was their rocket and launched from an area they control. It should be universally condemned.”

Israel’s military spokesman Daniel Hagari also stated, “Our intelligence is clear. Hezbollah is responsible for the killing of innocent children,” Hagari said. “We will prepare for a response against Hezbollah … we will act,” he said.

Speaking later from the site of the attack, Hagari said, “The rocket fired by Hezbollah was a Falaq-1 Iranian rocket, carrying a 50 kilogramme warhead. This is a model that is owned exclusively by Hezbollah, and tonight it caused the deaths of 12 young boys and girls.”

However, Hezbollah swiftly denied responsibility for the attack on Saturday. The group said in a statement it “categorically denies the allegations reported by certain enemy media and various media platforms concerning the targeting of Majdal Shams”. “The Islamic Resistance has no connection to this incident,” it said, referring to its military wing.

The attack prompted an escalation of tensions, with Prime Minister Netanyahu vowing that Israel would seek retribution for the attack. He told the leader of the Druze community in Israel, “Hezbollah will pay a heavy price, the kind it has thus far not paid,” during a phone call, according to a statement from his office.

On Sunday, a pall of gloom descended on the Golan as funerals were held for the 12 children who lost their lives in the attack. BBC reported that a black flag is placed at the spot where the rocket landed.

The entire town of Majdal Shams was “in a state of extreme shock”. As one resident told The Guardian: “No one can comprehend what has happened. We’ve never seen anything like this.”

The attack has caused panic in the region with many preparing for the worst yet to come. Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut reported, “Hezbollah is saying this isn’t from them, whereas the Israelis immediately said it was them,” she said, adding that neither side wants an all-out war, “but both sides have said they are prepared for it.”

Gideon Levy, a columnist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz warned that “now things can really get out of control”.

“It’s a dramatic moment. We don’t know what will be next. There is a lot of uncertainty. The coming hours will be decisive,” he told Al Jazeera.

With inputs from agencies