Israel is building along the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Golan Heights from Syria, apparently laying a road along the frontier.
“High-resolution images taken on Nov. 5 by Planet Labs PBC for the AP show over 7.5 kilometers (4.6 miles) of construction along the Alpha Line, starting some 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) southeast of the Israeli-held Druze town of Majdal Shams, where a July rocket strike killed 12 children playing soccer,” the Associated Press reported on Monday.
Images show what looks like a trench between two embankments, with parts appearing to have been laid with fresh asphalt. Construction follows a southeast route and then stretches south along the Alpha Line, and then turns southeast.
Excavators and other earth-moving equipment can be seen digging along the route, with asphalt piled up and ready for use.
The Alpha Line marks the demilitarized zone between Syria and Israel. United Nations personnel have patrolled it since 1974.
Israel sent a 71-page letter to the United Nations in June detailing what it described as “Syrian violations of the Alpha Line and armed presence in the area of separation (that) occur daily,” according to the AP.
Syria, although officially at war with Israel since 1948, has not commented on the construction, according to the report.
The United Nations maintains a peacekeeping force in the demilitarized zone called the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, or UNDOF.
“In recent months, UNDOF has observed construction activity being carried out by the IDF along the cease-fire line,” Head of Public Affairs for United Nations Peacekeeping Nick Birnback told AP.
The Bravo Line, a second demarcation border, marks the limit of where the Syrian military can operate. UNDOF has roughly 1,100 troops, mostly from Fiji, India, Kazakhstan, Nepal and Uruguay, patrolling the area, AP reported.
Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981. While the United Nations rejected the move as “null and void and without international legal effect,” the Trump administration officially recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan in 2019.
In 2024, the Biden administration reaffirmed that the Golan Heights is sovereign Israeli territory.
