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ABSTRACT
The Syrian civil war – which has largely ended following bloody 8 years – serves as a prime case study of mechanisms which challenge border realities, as well as geography and demography, through engagement of manifold internal and external actors. This article discusses these processes and their implications by focusing on the Syro-Israeli borderland. It analyses the main actors and their motives, geography of interactions, as well as implications for humanitarian situation and security considerations. It is argued that while the dynamics in the Syro-Israeli borderland have several unique characteristics, they also point to a broader process of re-drawing borderlands and lines of influence in the Middle East region.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. ARDD-Legal Aid, The Arab Spring’s Refugee Crisis.
2. Naharnet Newsdesk, Over 920,000 Displaced.
3. Al-Ahmed, Demographic Change: Assad’s; and PAX et al., Siege Watch.
4. Osman, The Problem; and Alsayyad, Demographic and Identity Changes, 116–118. See also: Al-Ahmad, Demographic Change: Assad’s.
5. Friedman, Iranian Military.
6. Balanche, “From the Iranian Corridor to the Shia Crescent,” in Islamism and the International Order, Hoover Institution, August 17th, 2018, https://www.hoover.org/research/iranian-corridor-shia-crescent, p.9.
7. El-Said et al., Enhancing the Understanding.
8. The Soufan Group, Foreign Fighters.
9. Orton, The Forgotten.
10. Lin, Chinese Uyghur.
11. Exact numbers are nowhere to be found, but already in 2013 the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated that the regular Syrian army had lost half of its forces, shrinking to approximately 110,000 . See: Aaron, Who Are.
12. Mehdi et al., Iran to Bankroll.
13. Middle East Media Research Institute, Foreign Bases.
14. Ritu, Afghan Refugees.
15. Frantzman, Who are Iran’s.
16. Alfoneh, Tehran’s Shia Foreign Legions.
17. Balanche, “From the Iranian Corridor to the Shia Crescent,” 4.
18. Ibid, 5.
19. See for example this 1 June 2018 Facebook post by Nors Studies, claiming that 2 million new Syrian ID’s were issued to non Syrians: https://www.facebook.com/nors.studies/photos/pb.1207312272662985.-2207520000.1527860008./1795465460514327/?type=3.
20. National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, Assad grants … .
21. A growing number of reports points to a process of naturalization in Iran associated with the families of Afghani and Pakistani militias who participated in the Syria war. N 2016 Iran passed a law allowing the government to grant citizenship to the families of foreigners killed while fighting for the republic. See Daily Sabah with AFP Iran to grant. and Sputnik News, Iran May Grant.
22. Chulov, Iran Repopulates.
23. See for example: Clutterback, Property restitution, Yahya, Kassir, el-Hariri, Refugee Attitudes.
24. Human Rights Watch, Q&A: Syria’s.; and The New Arab, Syrian Foreign Minister.
25. The term (Israeli-Syrian) border is used throughout the text in order to distinguish between the territories administered by Israel and the Syrian territories. This isn’t a universally recognised border, but a 100-kilometers long ceasefire line in place since 1974, following the 1973 war.
26. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Whole of Syria.
27. Ibid.
28. Syrian Central Bureau for Statistics, Population and Housing.
29. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Da’ra Communities.
30. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Whole of Syria; and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Da’ra Communities.
31. Reuters, Syrian Rebels.
32. NzivNet, Intensive Hizbullah.
33. For more on these actors, see Dekel et al., Syria’s New Map.
34. AFP, UN troops withdraw.
35. James, What is Jaysh.
36. Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra (Arabic: 
) is an Islamist group that originated within the ranks of Al-Qaeda, but later withdraw from that affiliation and in July 2016 changed its name to Jabhat Fataḥ al-Šām – Front for the Conquest of the Levant – and has been closely working with the rebels in the south under a unified command.
37. For a map showing the Syrian air bases, see: GlobalSecurity.org, Syrian Airfields.
38. Macaron, Jordan, Israel Hedge.
39. Zitun, Israel Attacks.
40. Ahronheim, Keinon, Israel, Russia Agree.
41. Idiz, Turkish Army’s.
42. Dekel et al., Israel’s Red Lines; and Avdalani, Russia’s Unlikely Withdrawal.
43. Salim Hudaifah, Sirwan Kajjo, Issam Zeitoun, Kamal Al-Labwani, Fahd al-Masri can be mentioned among those most amicable. Dekel et al., Syria’s New Map; Lynfield, Syrian Opposition Figures; and Winter, Prominent Syrian Oppositionist.
44. Ben Solomon, Syrian Rebels Call.
45. For details, see al-Tamimi, Israel’s Relations.
46. Raydan et a., Why Syria’s Druse.
47. Groiss, Druze Try To Break; and Savage, Syrian Druze plight.
48. Al-Assil et al., The Syrian Druze; and Gartenstein-Ross et al., Al Nusra’s Rebranding.
49. See note 26 above.
50. Aronson, Tensions in the Golan.
51. Fishman, UN Forces Return.
52. Keinon, Israeli Official: UN. For a map of UNDOF deployment as of March 2018 see: United Nations Digital Library, UNDOF deployment.
53. See note 38 above.
54. Tsurkov, Israeli Policy, 6.
55. Spyer, How Israel Navigated.
56. See for example: Lappin, The Low-Profile War.
57. See note 51 above.
58. See note 45 above.
59. Bahouth et al., Helping Hands Across.
60. Williams, Inside the Hospital.
61. Based on field observations.
62. Lieber, Is Treating Syrians; Rudee, The Cost of Compassion; and Fishman, In Protection of Druze.
63. i24NEWS, IDF Reveals; and Lynfield, IDF Births.
64. Zilber, Why Israel.
65. Ahronheim, Israel Provides More.
66. Zitun, Salami, IDF Completes Mission.
67. OECD Query Wizard for International Development Statistics.
68. See note 64 above.
69. Just Beyond the Border on Mimoona; and Kamar, Israelis Send Medicine.
70. Blackburn, The Israeli Who Goes.
71. Rimmerman, Israelis Donate.
72. See more in: Dekel et al., Syria’s New Map.
73. S. Savage, Syrian Druze Plight.
74. Fishman, In Protection.
75. The experience with a buffer zone which used to exist between Israel and Hezbollah-held Lebanese territory can be recalled here. The zone was secured by an Israeli-supported Army of South Lebanon (ASL), representing mainly the Christian minority interests. After Israel unilaterally withdrawn from South Lebanon in May 2000, the ASL forces and Christian families, facing Hezbollah onslaught, also evacuated into Israel. The actual situation in both cases differs much, however: current Israeli engagement is far more limited, and amicability of the partners on the other side still too vague. Central Intelligence Agency, Directorate of Intelligence, Israel and the Army; Even, Israel’s Strategy; and Goldenberg, Chaos and humiliation.
76. Keinon, Why Lift.
77. Al-Tamimi, Israel’s Relations.
78. Such conspiracy theories abound also in the context of the civil war, with various sides (contradictorily) seeing Israel as supportive of their enemies. A-Nashef et al., Israel’s Imagined Role.
79. Barkan, How Operation Good Neighbor.
80. Gross, In Syria, only; Al-Tamimi, Reconcilliation in Syria; and Macaron, What’s Next For.
81. NzivNet, Map of Syria.
82. Al-Tamimi, Harakat al-Hawiya; and Kalin et al., Syria Opposition Meeting.
83. Fulbrigth, Israel, Russia said.
84. Staff writer, Al Arabiya English, Iran’s Militias; and Saban, Iranian Involvement.
85. Boms, Cohen, Iran and the New; and Mozes, Websites Opposed.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Nir Boms
Nir Boms is a research fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University and at the International Center for Counter Terrorism at IDC Herzliya. He is a member of the Israeli Council on Foreign Relations and the co-founder of CyberDissidents.org, a network of bloggers from the Middle East that focuses on freedom of expression and the promotion of dialogue in the region. His recent book, Expat-ing Democracy (Peter Lang, 2016) deals with the influence of expat communities on democracy discourse in the Middle East.
Karolina Zielińska
Karolina Zielińska is an adjunct at the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures of the Polish Academy of Sciences. She obtained her PhD from the University of Warsaw Faculty of Political Science and International Studies, with thesis on Development aid to Sub-Saharan Africa countries as an element of Israeli soft power (2018). Graduate of the University of Warsaw International Relations Institute (2005; M.A. thesis on Syro-Palestinian relations, published in 2007); and of post-graduate studies in European Law (2006).