Middle East & Africa | Pre-emptive occupation

Exploiting disarray in Syria, Israel grabs more of the Golan Heights

The incursions are neither justified nor necessary

Israeli forces operate at a location given as Mount Hermon region
Photograph: Reuters
|GOLAN HEIGHTS

THE ROW of square grey forts slung across the horizon is a reminder of the days when Israel prepared for an onslaught by Syrian armoured divisions from the Golan Heights. That last happened in the Yom Kippur War, in 1973, when the Syrian army almost broke through. That army was once one of the most powerful in the Middle East. Yet it has been many years since it was that formidable.

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