Why is Israel determined to control the highest mountain in Syria?

Israel's defense minister stressed that the country's military maintaining control of Mount Hermon in Syria is "extremely important in terms of security".



According to CNN on December 14, after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown by the rebels about a week ago, Israel quickly bombed Syrian military assets for fear that they would fall into the hands of the rebels. Israel has struck nearly 500 targets and claims to have destroyed 90 percent of Syria's surface-to-air missiles.

And there is an equally remarkable development: Israel has quickly taken control of Mount Hermon, Syria's highest peak. Mount Hermon is located in Syria, in the buffer zone that separated Israeli and Syrian forces for the past 50 years until last weekend - the time the Israeli army seized control of the mountain. Before the Israelis entered the occupation, the mountain was demilitarized and only patrolled by UN peacekeepers.

Israel occupied the Golan Heights — a strategic plateau in southwestern Syria bordering Mount Hermon — during the 1967 war and has controlled it ever since. Syria tried to regain this part of the territory in the 1973 offensive but failed, and Israel annexed it in 1981. The occupation of the Golan Heights is illegal under international law, but the United States under President Donald Trump (first term) has recognized Israel's claim, according to CNN.

For decades, Israel has held some of the lower slopes of Mount Hermon and even operates a ski resort here, but the summit still belongs to Syria. "This is the highest point in the region, looking at Lebanon, Syria and Israel. Strategically, this peak is extremely important. Nothing can replace mountains," said Efraim Inbar, director of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS).



On December 13, Israel's Defense Minister, Israel Katz, ordered the country's military to prepare for the harsh conditions of the winter deployment. "Due to the developments in Syria, maintaining control of Mount Hermon is extremely important in terms of security," he said. Knee and joint pain will go away if you do this every morning!

According to Voice of the Capital, a Syrian activist group, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has advanced far beyond the mountaintop, as far as the Beqaasem area, about 25 kilometers from the Syrian capital Damascus. However, an Israeli military spokesman this week denied reports that Israeli forces were "heading towards Damascus."

"We have no intention of interfering in Syria's internal affairs. But we certainly intend to do everything necessary to ensure our security," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video a few days after Israel bombed hundreds of targets in Syria and seized a demilitarized buffer zone between the two countries.

At 2,814 meters, the summit of Mount Hermon is higher than any point in Syria or Israel, and is second only to one peak in Lebanon. In a scientific paper published in 2011, Efraim Inbar, director of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS), wrote about the many advantages that Mount Hermon offers. "This mountain allows electronic surveillance deep into Syrian territory, providing Israel with the ability to provide early warning in the event of an imminent attack," he wrote.

The summit is just over 35 kilometers from Damascus. That means that control of the foothills on the Syrian side of the mountain, which is also now in the hands of the Israeli army, would put the Syrian capital within range of artillery fire. It is not known when Israel will leave this mountaintop. Inbar said whether or not the Israeli army would withdraw "is a political decision".