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Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-878996
Israel's New Preemptive Doctrine Collides with Trump's Vision for Syria
(Jerusalem Post) Herb Keinon - Where Washington sees Syrian President Ahmed al-Shaara as a leader to cultivate, Israel sees a security vacuum in southern Syria. The region today is a tangle of actors, many of them hostile to Israel: remnants of Hamas's Syrian branch, elements of the Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood, scattered jihadist networks, clan-based militias, and Iranian-aligned groups moving weapons toward Lebanon. Turkey has also expanded its influence in the region, backing Sunni factions. Israel learned the hard way on Oct. 7, 2023, what happens when it does not take immediate action to handle threats building up on its borders. The resulting trauma has hardened Israel's instincts on every front. Deterrence is no longer considered sufficient. Preemption is the new default mode. In Syria, this doctrine has led to a set of quiet but consistent operations - similar to those routinely conducted in Judea and Samaria - to capture terrorist suspects and prevent terrorist infrastructure from taking root near Israel's communities on the Golan Heights. Israel cannot afford to take a hands-off approach to what is happening in southern Syria so close to its border. The differences regarding the proper policy toward Syria between Israel and the U.S. cannot be wished away. Washington wants Israel to slow down - to give diplomacy a chance and avoid steps that could undermine a leader the White House is courting. Israel wants Washington to understand that a stable Syria is today more aspiration than reality, and that security cannot be outsourced to a government still struggling to enforce its authority or to international mechanisms that rarely function. Israel supports diplomatic engagement with Syria and understands the administration's goals. But until the new Syrian government can reliably ensure that jihadist factions, Iranian proxies, and Hamas-linked networks cannot operate along the frontier, Israel will continue to act preemptively - to prevent having the border become a launchpad for the next Oct. 7 massacre.