In Quneitra, no one can celebrate Assad’s fall amid the Israeli invasion Syrian war news

Quneitra, Syria – Ibrahim al-Dakhil, 55, watched in despair as an Israeli bulldozer demolished his 40-year-old home, claiming the need to secure the border.

“It was 6:30 in the morning when I heard the explosion,” he told Al Jazeera, pointing to the place where a Syrian military site was located near his destroyed house.

He and his family live in the village of Al-Rafid in Quneitra Governorate.

The intruder was sitting in his front yard, enjoying the lush green fields and a flowing spring nearby. He said it had never brought him greater joy.

But now he and his family are seeking refuge in his parents’ house in the village while continuing to monitor the advance of Israeli forces.

He said: “I saw them moving through the village, and the trucks and tanks arrived at the municipal building with the bulldozers.”

On December 8, Israel launched a military campaign targeting sites across Syria and advanced to Quneitra under the pretext of searching for weapons and collaborators with the Lebanese Hezbollah group and Iran.

Israeli forces set up checkpoints, uprooted trees, and destroyed the only military site in the village, which the intruder said was just a small station housing a few officers.

Israeli forces also fired stun grenades, tear gas, and live bullets at demonstrators upset by their incursion into Syria.

The latest incident occurred on Wednesday when Israeli forces opened fire on a demonstration protesting their destruction of several buildings in two villages in Quneitra, wounding three people.

The Israeli incursion comes after the ouster of Syria’s long-time authoritarian president, Bashar al-Assad, through a lightning opposition offensive earlier in December.

Days later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Israeli presence in Syria would be “temporary,” but he later clarified that Israel would remain illegally on Syrian territory until a new security arrangement was reached with the new Syrian authority.

New displacement

Maysoon Al-Faouri, 47, did not expect to be uprooted from her home when Israeli forces entered her village.

During Syria’s 13-year civil war, which began with a popular uprising against Assad which he brutally suppressed, Al-Faouri, her six children and her husband – who died two months ago of unknown causes – were uprooted from the region. – Al-Hajar Al-Aswad neighborhood, a suburb of Damascus.

They moved to Baath City, an area in Quneitra where Israeli forces are now stationed just 1 km (0.6 mi) away.

Al-Faouri does not fully trust Israel’s claims that their presence is temporary and is concerned that Israeli soldiers could arrive at her home in seconds.

“I told my children: If you want to escape, you can, but I don’t care if you die.” I don’t even have the money to leave. Nurse Al-Faouri told Al Jazeera: “We are all exhausted, poor, and have lost everything.”

“Even the soldiers don’t know how long they will stay here,” she added.

Al-Faouri said that some people may prefer to stay in the villages invaded by Israel because they do not have the financial means to leave.

A history of occupation and fear

Quneitra is located in the Golan Heights, the Syrian territory that Israel invaded and occupied during the 1967 war.

After Israel withdrew in 1974 from most of the territory it had occupied – while illegally retaining some of the Golan Heights – and declared the zone demilitarized under UN supervision, the region remained largely neglected.

Today, many residents still face uncertainty even though they express hope that the country will recover from the devastation caused by the conflict.

But Israel’s expanding and seemingly unlimited occupation of Syrian territory is already crushing some people’s optimism, according to 28-year-old lawyer Mohammed Al-Fayad.

“There is fear and a shortage of water, electricity and food (in the villages of Quneitra). Schools are closed, unlike other governorates.

Al-Fayyadh said: “The people who fled to Damascus after the advance of the Israeli forces found no shelter or assistance.”

Those who choose to stay fear Israeli aggression, especially if they are protesting its ongoing attack on the country.

Many Syrians, like Al-Fayad, worry that Israel will find a new excuse to confiscate more Syrian land in the name of “security.”

Al-Fayad said with regret: “We were celebrating the victory and the fall of Assad, but then the occupation came, creating fear and spoiling the joy.”

“We are in a new phase…liberation. “We should be able to celebrate like the rest of the country.”