The Syrian city of Quneitra (southwestern Syria) has long stood as a historic symbol of the Syrian Israeli conflict. Its name has been tied to the anniversary of its liberation on 26 June 1974, after the October 1973 War, when Syria’s president at the time, Hafez al-Assad, raised the Syrian flag over its destroyed ruins.

The former Syrian regime long used the ruined city as a witness to “Zionist barbarity” and as a political and diplomatic destination to reinforce its narrative.

With the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, the area is witnessing fundamental shifts, as Israeli forces have returned to advance into areas once considered “liberated,” raising questions about the meaning of the liberation anniversary under the new reality.

Quneitra, When the “Liberation Anniversary” Became a Prelude to a New Occupation

Jawhara Awad, a resident of the destroyed city of Quneitra and a member of one of the four families still living there, told Enab Baladi about life in the city. She has lived in Quneitra for 40 years with her husband and five children, two sons and three daughters, who studied at al-Jamiya School before it closed.

She said four families live in the destroyed city, including two from the Tannous family, Milad and Youssef Tannous, the family of engineer Abu Hani, and a rural family that came from the al-Hebbariyeh area, lives on a farm, and raises livestock.

Jawhara added that life has now become more restrictive. Her family works in livestock raising, especially cows from the Golan breed that depend on grazing, but after Israeli army forces positioned themselves in the city, Israeli forces seized large areas of land, reduced the grazing space, and restricted movement in and out of the city.

Visitors no longer come to the family because of the incursions, and residents have been prevented from harvesting fruit from the city’s trees, especially figs.

Drinking water reaches the city once a week by tanker from the Quneitra Water Establishment, she said, describing the city as “still a victim.”

Quneitra, the “Living Martyr”

For his part, Hassan al-Bakr, a specialist in Quneitra and Golan affairs, told Enab Baladi that the destroyed city of Quneitra is “the living martyr and witness to the arrogance of aggression and its systematic destruction, sabotage, and tampering.”

He believes the city paid this price, like the rest of the Golan’s villages and towns, because of its strategic location, as the Israeli enemy has always sought to control it because it lies between four capitals, Jerusalem, Beirut, Damascus, and Amman.

Al-Bakr noted that the Israeli enemy seized the city in 1967 and that part of it was liberated in 1974 after the October War, but it was completely destroyed.

He explained that when the 1974 ceasefire and disengagement agreement was concluded, one of its conditions was the reconstruction of Quneitra city, but this did not happen despite pledges by Arab and foreign countries to rebuild it.

Al-Bakr attributed this to the Syrian government’s desire at the time to keep Quneitra “a witness to the barbarity of the occupier,” considering that this “does not feed anyone or make them self-sufficient.”

He added that the city should have been rebuilt and its people should have returned to it, because the current reality “pleased the Zionists and served their goal of emptying the area of residents to facilitate the process of control.”

This is what actually happened after the regime’s fall and the occupation army’s entry into the city without confrontation because it was empty of residents. Israeli forces destroyed what remained of the city’s landmarks, such as the old al-Golan Hospital, al-Andalus Cinema, and al-Uruba Mosque, under security pretexts.

Ongoing Injustice

Al-Bakr believes Quneitra was wronged and is still suffering injustice, while its people continue to pay the price of conflicts. Despite this, their determination to return to their cities and villages and rebuild them has not weakened, because countries are built only by the hands of their people. Naturally, when there are residents in cities and villages, the occupation will face a different situation, despite the enemy’s experiences.

He does not rule out a repeat of what happened in Gaza and southern Lebanon in terms of population displacement. But Quneitra has a special status because there is an agreement between Israel and Syria, and therefore Israel cannot easily enter cities if residents are present. This gives residents strength, no matter how much Israel tries to displace them. The evidence is what is happening today, including incursions, arrests, and the establishment of military bases, according to the researcher.

Daily Incursions

The Israeli army has been carrying out daily incursions in Quneitra governorate, located on the edge of the occupied Syrian Golan, since it entered the area on 8 December 2024.

These incursions include continued arrests of residents from Syria’s southern governorates bordering Israel, especially Quneitra.

The arrests carried out by Israeli forces in southern Syria are one of the methods of pressure used against the area’s residents, alongside other practices including incursions, searches, checkpoints, land razing, and house demolitions.

Israeli incursions and search campaigns have become a source of fear for residents, who worry they may turn into arrests of young men. This amounts to the enforced disappearance of detainees, amid the absence of any information about where Israel takes them and the lack of any chance to communicate with them.

The number of detainees is estimated at 47 from the governorates of Quneitra, Daraa, and Rural Damascus.