Implementing lessons from Oct 7 invasion, IDF accelerates building of security barrier on Syrian border to prevent infiltration by jihadists

Israel Defense Forces announced on Sunday the construction of a new “engineering barrier” along the border with Syria in the Golan Heights which the military has named “New East.” 

The construction started after the deployment of ground and air units to patrol the buffer zone within the Syrian Golan Heights. 

The IDF said troops were deployed from the 474th Brigade, which is focusing on intelligence-gathering efforts after reports of jihadist rebel groups seizing territory in the Syrian Golan Heights near the Israeli border. 

While the Israeli military had already begun constructing the security barrier in the Golan Heights, it expedited its efforts by incorporating new engineering features into the "dynamic barrier" along the border following the collapse of the Assad regime, aiming to prevent the possibility of an armed infiltration into Israel.

After the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime to Turkish-backed rebel groups, several jihadist groups that had previously made agreements with Assad reactivated and claimed to have seized several towns in the southwest border area. 

Additional engineering teams from other divisions have joined with the IDF's 210th Division to accelerate the work, which had begun even before the renewal of hostilities in the Syrian Civil War. The objective of the new “dynamic barrier is to disrupt an infiltration attempt by terrorists in light off-road vehicles. 

The military said that tactical engineering lessons learned from the Oct. 7 breach of the Gaza security barrier by Hamas terrorists last year are being implemented in the Golan. 

The work includes the refurbishing of minefields in the demilitarized buffer zone, the placement of explosive devices, as well as the digging of deep trenches to make travel by vehicle more difficult. The IDF said it is prioritizing border areas closer to the more threatened Golan settlements and in areas with limited visibility, such as the hilly, mountainous region in northern Golan. 

The IDF entered the buffer zone the morning after the fall of Assad’s regime. While foreign reports claimed that tanks and infantry forces had seized position past Alpha Line on the Golan Heights, the IDF denied the reports.

However, Israeli Air Force (IAF) fighter jets began a series of strikes around the Syrian capital, Damascus, aimed at destroying advanced weapon systems, munitions production facilities, and chemical weapons stores that could fall into the hands of the rebels or other jihadist groups. 

On Tuesday night, the IDF reported strikes on Assad’s naval facilities in Latakia and Tartus, completely destroying the naval units there. The IAF's elite Shaldag unit also occupied the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, deploying troops to create a defensive buffer zone, reaching areas Israeli soldiers have not reached since the Yom Kippur War in 1973. 

The military said that "the IDF does not intervene in events taking place in Syria" and that it will "continue to act as necessary to maintain the buffer zone and protect the State of Israel and its citizens." 

Airstrikes in Syria continued overnight as the military worked to prevent arms transfers to Lebanon. The Syrian opposition-affiliated "Voice of the Capital" said that “Israel is systematically destroying all the brigades and battalions of the previous regime in southern Syria…any sites involved in producing, developing, or possessing weapons that could pose a threat to Israel.”