I24NEWS Arab affairs analyst Tzvi Yechezkeli said that the Syrian army under Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, known as Al-Golani, is not really any different than Hamas’s Nukhba force.

“It can be said that the agreement with Al-Golani and with the international community that pushed for it indicates that the world does not understand who it is dealing with,” Yehezkeli said. “They sent Al-Golani to protect the Druze, and his men committed severe massacres there. Only now are the Druze beginning to understand what really happened there under the guise of a police force. It’s like Israel sending Abu Mazen (PA President Mahmoud Abbas) to the kibbutzim in the Gaza border area after the terrible October 7 massacre.”

“Al-Golani understands now that, besides deceiving Israel, he can do everything and deceive the whole world, selling them on the idea of deploying international forces to help—and in effect turning Syria into an Islamist state.”

“The other thing we understand from all these incidents is that there is actually a very strong jihad force in Syria, perhaps more than we estimated. These are Nukhba, organized battalions, a state army—but no different from Hamas forces, and Israel needs to think about this in relation to the future.”

In Yehezkeli’s opinion, it is already clear that it will be very difficult to hold a real dialogue with Al-Golani.

“Israel will have to consider expanding the buffer zones and understand who it is facing. All this happened when there was talk of peace with Al-Golani. Therefore, anyone who wants to sign agreements with that entity across the border in the Golan Heights needs to take into account that this is a sophisticated person who knows how to talk to the West and also be a murderer and beheader inside Syria.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)