The news outlet Israel Hayom reported that Defence Minister Israel Katz chaired a small ministerial meeting focused on Turkish involvement in Syria and concerns about the intentions of Syri’s de facto leader, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) commander Ahmed al-Sharaa (also known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed Jolani).
During the meeting, which was held before an upcoming discussion with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the ministers also reportedly discussed an Israeli plan.
Under this plan, Syria would be divided into provincial regions, or cantons, which Israel Hayom described as a way to “safeguard the security and rights of all Syrian ethnic groups”, including the Druze and Kurdish populations.
Eli Cohen, Israel’s energy and infrastructure minister, reportedly suggested that this proposal should be examined at an international conference convened by Israel, though Israeli politicians know that any initiative associated with Tel Aviv is likely to face significant resistance within Syria.
In December, regional security sources briefed on the plot told Middle East Eye that the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s government had thwarted an already-existing Israeli plan to divide Syria into three blocks in order to sever its ties with Iran and Hezbollah, which were supporting Assad.
Israel planned to establish military and strategic ties with the Kurds in Syria’s northeast and the Druze in the south, leaving Assad in power in Damascus under Emirati funding and control.
This would have also served to limit Turkey’s influence in Syria to the northwest, which was the stronghold of HTS and Turkish-backed rebel groups whose lightning offensive led to Assad’s downfall.
The plan, which appears the same as the one discussed by Katz and other Israeli ministers, was alluded to in a speech last November by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar.
Saar stated Israel needed to reach out to the Kurds and the Druze in Syria and Lebanon, adding that there were “political and security aspects” that needed to be considered.
“We must look at developments in this context and understand that in a region where we will always be a minority we can have natural alliances with other minorities,” Saar added.
The feeling does not seem to be widely reciprocated. In December, the leader of Syria’s Druze, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, condemned Israel’s invasion of Syria and said his country needs to maintain its social and territorial unity.
Speaking to MEE in an exclusive interview from his home in Qanawat, a town in southern Syria’s Sweida province, Hijri stated: “The Israeli invasion concerns me and I reject it.”
Hours after rebels led by HTS toppled the Assad government on 8 December, Israel began moving troops into Syrian territory.
They invaded from the Golan Heights, a Syrian plateau that Israel has occupied since 1967.
Israeli security officials have announced that Israel will maintain positions in captured areas until they judge that “stability” has been achieved.
The plan to divide Syria highlights the concern among Israel’s establishment about Turkish influence in the country.
On Monday, an Israeli government commission noted that Turkey could pose a greater threat to Israel than Iran in Syria if it supports a hostile “Sunni Islamist” force in Damascus.
Ankara has emerged as a major beneficiary of the fall of Assad after it backed HTS and other rebel groups that led the offensive that toppled his administration.
