Saudi Report: Israel-Syria War Averted at the Last Minute

Israel and Syria faced a serious risk of military escalation last week following a sharp rise in tensions in southern Syria. According to a report published Tuesday by the Saudi newspaper Al-Majalla, urgent diplomatic intervention by the United States and Gulf states on October 20 prevented the situation from escalating into direct confrontation. The efforts resulted in “loose understandings,” but no new security agreement was reached between the two countries.

At the center of the crisis is the city of Sweida, where tensions escalated between Syrian authorities and Druze factions associated with Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri. According to the report, Damascus received information about a plan to attack government targets and responded by moving reinforcements into areas of tension. Syrian leaders feared that the planned operation was intended to provoke an Israeli response that could lead to war.

Meanwhile, efforts to reach security understandings between Israel and Syria have made no progress. In September, Reuters reported that talks held under US mediation had reached a dead end over Israel’s demand to establish a humanitarian corridor to Sweida. Syrian authorities rejected the demand, arguing that it violated the country’s sovereignty.

According to Al-Majalla, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani has been working in recent days with Washington and other countries in the region in an effort to halt Israel Defense Forces (IDF) activity in southern Syria, amid concerns that it could lead to further escalation.

The tensions were also evident in an incident last week in the village of Jamla in Daraa province, where a local resident was killed during IDF activity. The Israeli military said the man approached its forces in a suspicious manner and was shot after failing to comply with procedures for apprehending a suspect. Syrian sources, however, claimed that the man killed was an unarmed civilian.