On June 26, Syria opened the Damascus-Golan road to Quneitra to civilian traffic for the first time since the Six-Day War of 1967. This move went unannounced. Almost all of the military roadblocks along the 60 km high road connecting the capital with the Syrian part of Golan for 40 years were removed. Two remained – one at the entrance to Qunetra from the Syrian end and one at the town’s exit to Israeli Golan. Military sources report that this measure went mostly unnoticed, although it made Israeli military intelligence sit up.

Syrian policy was to discourage civilian traffic near the border, up until now.

This sudden change may mean preparations are complete for the launch of a cross-border campaign of terror in the Israel sector of the territory. That could be a preamble to full scale war.  

The day the road was opened, Syria celebrated the 33rd anniversary of Quneitra’s liberation, i.e. the signing of the armistice agreement with Israel which delineated the provisional border between the two countries and ended the 1973 Yom Kippur war and ensuing war of attrition. Quneitra, which was captured by Israel in 1967, was ceded to Syria on condition it was kept demilitarized.

 Tishreen the official Syrian newspaper had this to say about the apparent change in the Syrian Governments policy.

Since the first moment of taking oath as President of the Republic, Bashar Al-Assad made it clear that the Golan always remains in the center until it returns to the homeland, Syria. This is an inevitable day. The return of Golan to Syria is non-negotiable.

Under such circumstances in which the Israelis continue to reject all Arab bids for reaching a just and comprehensive peace settlement, the option of national resistance remains the only open legitimate course for the liberation of the occupied Arab lands and the restoration of usurped rights.

Golan, the biblical Bashan, is a narrow basalt plateau, part of the Sea of Galilee’s catchment basin, which provides 30% of Israel’s water. Israeli jurisdiction was formally extended to Golan in 1981.

. Official Syrian figures put the number of “Golan Heights refugees” at 410,000, a obvious exaggeration . The real refugee figure from this tiny sliver of 1,070 sq. km. of land is no more than 60-70,000, around half of whom are crowded into the Wafadin camp on the western outskirts of Damascus. Many Druse residents of the heights were made Israeli Citizens after the Golan was annexed by Israel. Most refused to accept citizenship out of fear of the Golan being returned at some point to Syria.  

Israeli and Western military and intelligence interpret the opening of the Damascus-Quneitra highway to civilians as a gambit to give free rein to cross into Israeli Golan for terrorist operations against civilian and military targets, without Syria being held responsible. This gives the Assad government an alibi for claiming it has no control over the traffic traversing the road to the border, the same pretext it has used for years in allowing terrorists, arms and money to infiltrate Iraq and Lebanon.

The next war with Syria is just a question of time.