Syrian Leader Asks US to Pressure Israel to Withdraw from Golan Buffer Zone and Mt. Hermon Summit

Israel is, like the rest of the world, uncertain as to the future of Syria. Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was linked to Al-Qaeda and to ISIS for many years, now says he long ago completely broke with him; his Pauline-like conversion on the road to Damascus sounds plausible, but who knows what he really thinks, or whether others in the rebel group he heads, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HT) have different ideas, and may prevail? The news about changes in Syrian schoolbooks, giving them a distinctly Islamist slant that worries more secular Muslims, is worrisome. Given the unsettled state of Syria, the Israelis are behaving cautiously. They have moved their forces into the Syrian side of the Golan, entering the buffer zone that was established in 1974, and have established a base on the summit of Mt. Hermon from which Damascus can be seen far below. Now the de facto ruler of Syria, al-Sharaa has called on the Biden Administration to pressure Israel to withdraw from both. More on this request can be found here: “Syrian Leader Asks US to Pressure Israel to Retreat,” JNS.org, January 5, 2025:

Ahmed al-Sharaa, head of Syria’s Sunni Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group and the country’s de facto leader, has asked the United States to pressure Israel to withdraw from the Golan buffer zone and the peak of Mount Hermon.

Moreover, al-Sharaa, also known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Julani, asked the Biden administration for humanitarian aid, Israel’s public broadcaster Kan reported on Friday.

Why is al-Sharaa now asking for humanitarian aid from the United States? Does he not have enthusiastic supporters, fellow Sunni Muslims, in the colossally rich Arab states of the Gulf, including Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Qatar, and Kuwait, who could easily afford to supply “humanitarian aid” and much, much more? What al-Sharaa is trying to do is persuade or inveigle the American government into becoming Syria’s sugar daddy from the get-go, getting it used to providing funds for Syria, starting with “humanitarian aid”? Who would be cruel enough to turn down a request for “humanitarian aid”? Well, I could, and possibly you could, too. It’s a way to soften up the American government, and the American people, for future requests from Damascus for very large sums to rebuild the country. That request by al-Sharaa should either be ignored altogether, or turned down diplomatically, with the suggestion that “it might be most appropriate for Syria to be provided with the aid it needs from its fellow Sunni Muslim states in the Gulf, including from Saudi Arabia and the Emirates.” Neither the United States, nor any Western country, ought to be spending money on Muslim countries, that will be happy to take our aid — aid that they regard as “jizyah,” but cannot be our steadfast friends. Syria will need at least $350 billion to rebuild, and just as the Western powers take care of their own — as the U.S. did after World War II with the Marshall Plan — the Muslim states ought to be expected to do the same. Syria’s rebuilding, beginning with the humanitarian aid al-Sharaa is now asking for, is a problem for the Saudis and Emiratis and other rich Arabs, not for Americans or Europeans, to help solve.

Sources in Israel said that they did not receive any demand from Washington with regard to Syria, adding that the Jewish state will not compromise on its security, according to the report.

Maher Marwan, the new governor of Damascus, spoke to NPR last week on behalf of al-Sharaa, saying that Syria “wants peace, and we cannot be an opponent to Israel or an opponent to anyone.”

Marwan acknowledged that Israel’s concerns following the collapse of Bashar Assad’s regime were understandable, “So it advanced a little [into the buffer zone], bombed [former Assad military assets] a little, etc.”

He added, “We have no fear toward Israel, and our problem is not with Israel. … There are people here who want coexistence and who want peace. They don’t want disputes. And we don’t want to meddle in anything that will threaten Israel’s security or any other country’s security.”…

Maher Marwan’s comments on wanting peace with Israel sound heartfelt, but he is one among many, and it is unclear whether he had al-Sharaa’s blessing in making such remarks. In any case, his remarks caused a firestorm in the Arab world, and he has had to backtrack, disavowing his previous statement. The Israelis are not about to pull back from the very small area on the Golan and Mt. Hermon that they have moved into, which is one-twentieth the area that Turkey now occupies in Syria. And while Israel has said its move into the Syrian Golan is “limited and temporary,” Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has not expressed any intention of leaving the territory his military have seized in northern Syria.

Israel’s “excuses have run out, and they have crossed the lines of engagement” for striking the Assad regime’s military infrastructure, as well as for deploying troops to several demilitarized zones in the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, The New York Times quoted al-Sharaa as saying….

Israel is not offering “excuses” for its move into the Syrian Golan, but rather, has made clear that it worries — who in the Western world does not? — about the possibility of a jihadist regime taking power in Syria. It is much too early for Israel to pull back from the demilitarized zones in the Golan and from Mt. Hermon that the IDF has entered; it will have to see what happens in the Syrian government once the political dust settles. After the October 7 atrocities, the Jewish state has to be completely focused on its security.

The Biden administration should resist not just al-Sharaa’s request for American humanitarian aid, directing him to ask the deep-pocketed Saudis and Emiratis, but the very idea that it should pressure Israel to pull back in the Golan. The Israelis have made clear that they will stay until it is certain that the jihadists are not in control in Damascus. The Biden administration knows that, and won’t want to risk being publicly turned down by Israel. But that may be exactly what Al-Sharaa wants. If he can persuade the American government to pressure Israel and Israel yields, that will be seen as a victory — a clever diplomatic move — over the Jewish state. But that won’t happen, and if Israel is asked (“pressured”) by the Americans to withdraw, and refuses, that could drive a wedge, al-Sharaa may hope, between Israel and the American government.

The Israelis are not about to pull back from the very small area on the Golan and Mt. Hermon that they have moved into, which is one-twentieth the area that Turkey now occupies in Syria. Why, one wonders, hasn’t Al-Sharaa demanded that Turkey remove its troops and end its occupation of so much of northern Syria? Does he think Turkey’s help to HTS entitles it to remain in Syria indefinitely? While Israel has said its move into the Syrian Golan is “limited and temporary,” Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has not expressed any intention of leaving the territory his military have seized in northern Syria.

If the Bidenites choose to do the right thing, they should answer al-Sharaa thus: “Our Israeli partners have already said that their forces on the Syrian side of the Golan and on the summit of Mt. Hermon will be there only on a limited and temporary basis, and we take them at their word. They are trying to determine — as are we — precisely what is to come in Syria. We all, of course, hope for the best, but like Israel, we want to be absolutely sure.”