Today, Israel still occupies five hilltop points in southern Lebanon, launches near-daily airstrikes against alleged Hezbollah targets and flies reconnaissance drones over the country, sometimes also carrying out overnight ground incursions.

In Gaza, where US President Donald Trump’s 20-point ceasefire deal has brought about a truce between Israel and Hamas, similar buffer zones are planned even after Israel eventually withdraws from more than half of the territory it still controls.

At a meeting of regional leaders and international figures earlier this month in Doha, Qatar, Al Sharaa accused Israel of using imagined threats to justify aggressive actions.

“All countries support an Israeli withdrawal” from Syria to the lines before Assad’s ouster, he said, adding that it was the only way for both Syria and Israel to “emerge in a state of safety.”

Israel and the US at odds over Syria

In a video released from his office after visiting Israeli troops wounded in Beit Jin, barely 5 kilometres (3 miles) from the edge of the UN buffer zone, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel seeks a “demilitarised buffer zone from Damascus to the (UN) buffer zone,” including Mt. Hermon.

“It is also possible to reach an agreement with the Syrians, but we will stand by our principles in any case,” Netanyahu said.

His strategy has proven to be largely unpopular with the international community, including with Washington, which has backed Al Sharaa’s efforts to establish a credible government in Syria.

Israel’s attacks in southern Syria have drawn rare public criticism from Trump, who has brought Al Sharaa into diplomatic contact.

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“It is very important that Israel maintain a strong and true dialogue with Syria, and that nothing takes place that will interfere with Syria’s evolution into a prosperous State,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social after the Beit Jin clashes.

Syria is also expected to be on the agenda when Netanyahu visits the US and meets with Trump later this month.

Experts doubt Israel will withdraw from Syria anytime soon.

“If you set up landing pads, then you are not here for short-term,” Issam al-Reiss, a military adviser with the Syrian research group ETANA, said of Israeli actions.

Hamadeh, the labourer from Beit Jin, said he can “no longer bear the situation” after losing five of his family.

Israel, he said, “strikes wherever it wants, it destroys whatever it wants, and kills whoever it wants, and no one holds it accountable.”