WANA (Jul 17) – The recent clashes in southern Syria between the “Joulani” group and Druze and Kurdish tribes reveal a deeper layer than just a local dispute. Amid this turmoil, Israel, following the fighting between Joulani’s affiliates and the Druze and Kurds, has intervened to preserve its strategic goals—and today has carried out a direct attack on Syria.

 

Strikingly, in the flurry of analyses and media headlines, a vital reality is dangerously overlooked: Israel’s central role and objective in fueling these crises.

 

While media outlets and even official Syrian sources dwell at length on tribal rivalries, sectarian accusations, and local power struggles among Joulani, the Druze, and the Kurds, few speak of the main driver of the crisis or the behind-the-scenes design orchestrated by Tel Aviv. This neglect—if not deliberate—at least reveals the depth of a discourse of humiliation and surrender in parts of the region’s media and political space.

 

This pattern is very familiar. It’s the same discourse of humiliation and capitulation we recognize in Iran as well: people curse everything under the sun, but refuse to name the U.S. as the main culprit. Even when America bombs Iran’s nuclear facilities, this narrative insists: “It was Iran’s own fault for not surrendering; poor America was forced to pay the price of an attack!”

What Does Israel Want?

Despite appearances portraying Joulani as the main actor, Israel’s strategic policy in Syria pursues far larger and deeper objectives. Whether Joulani stays or goes is irrelevant to Tel Aviv; the real Israeli strategic project is this:

 

The first goal is to create a secure land corridor from the borders of the occupied territories to eastern Syria near the Euphrates. This route—known in regional media as the “David Corridor”—extends from the Druze south to the Kurdish north. Such a corridor enables operational and logistical access to the Iraqi border while severing the communication lines between Iran and the resistance forces in Syria.

 

The second goal is to establish a buffer zone to contain Iraqi and Iranian resistance forces. Exploiting ethnic and sectarian divisions, Israel aims to keep Iran’s allies away from the Golan frontier and reduce the potential threat to itself.

 

At the same time, Israel has traditionally benefited from destabilizing Syria to strengthen its own security position. For Tel Aviv, whether the Joulani government survives or collapses is secondary. What matters is sustaining a chronic civil war and preventing the emergence of a strong, unified central government allied with the Resistance Axis.

Is Israel Sacrificing Joulani?

Some analysts believe Israel’s recent strikes on Joulani’s positions are part of a covert deal brokered in Baku:

 

  • Disarm opponents of Israel in Syria’s three southern provinces
  • Create a buffer zone extending deep into the Golan region

 

Accepting these terms would have cost Joulani heavily in local legitimacy. So Israel’s attacks provided a convenient pretext for him to withdraw from the south while framing it as a “security necessity.”

 

But even if this scenario is true, it doesn’t lessen Joulani’s weakness and humiliation—the same man who once claimed in his propaganda that Iran and Hezbollah were conspiring with Israel to spill Sunni blood, and that by driving them out, he would destroy Israel!

 

The reality on the ground shows that no negotiation or security deal with Israel has ever guaranteed real protection for local forces. Even groups that have cooperated with Washington or Tel Aviv have repeatedly been targeted by Israeli airstrikes.

 

This pattern in Syria is also a warning to other countries in the region. The idea of “disarmament for security” promoted by anti-resistance factions in Lebanon and Iraq effectively means giving Israel a free hand for further aggression. In the end, Tel Aviv isn’t satisfied with any agreement short of total surrender.

 

The current crisis in Syria is yet another test that exposes the true face of Israel’s regional project:

 

  • Fragmenting Syria’s national sovereignty
  • Severing the Resistance Axis’s communication lines
  • Consolidating a zone of influence from the Golan to the Euphrates
  • Imposing absolute surrender on Damascus

 

It is also a stark warning to all political and media forces in the region who, in a dangerous chorus, turn a blind eye to the main driver of the crisis and exclude the real enemy from their analyses.

 

Syria’s issue today is the region’s issue. Recognizing this reality is the first step toward defeating Israel’s projects and those who support them.