I'm not arguing for or against. Just posting the link.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/16/middleeast/damascus-syria-airstrikes-intl

down far enough.

Retake the Golan Heights and start a military adventure into Syria, and then occupy that land and appropriate it to Israel?

He was officially pissed when Hezbollah managed, with denials of ever doing anything to hurt the wrong people, ever, to strike a Druze community in Israel.

Partly because Hezbollah wasn't nice to the large Druze community in Lebanon, and its supporter Assad wasn't nice to Druze in Syria.

That's 1.

But also there are two large areas of Druze in Syria--one's adjacent to the Golan Heights (not where the non-Damascus Israeli strike hit) and the other in Suweida and points south-ish (where the strikes hit). What was hit? Syrian troops.

The strikes in Damascus were the Ministry of Defense.

Don't know if Israel should be defending an oppressed minority when assaulted by local armed "us-supremacist" bigots, only to have the same-'ethnicity' military intervene to break up the fighting by taking the bigots' side. But that's one way of putting it that's not actually inaccurate in any regard.

"...an effort to protect the Druze and keep the Syrian side of the border demilitarized."

Which of the two do you think is the real reason and which is perhaps the cover for it?

I suppose both could be true, but in my view unlikely. Unless he fears that the Druze in Israel could be drawn in. I have read that some have crossed the border to aid their brethren in Syria.

Netenyahu's primary motivation is the security of Israel. Defending the Druze is secondary if you are generous or a pretext if you are not.

Last year a Druze city in Israel was bombed and 12 children were killed. Some Druze asked Netenyahu not to retaliate. He did anyway.

Don't forget that, after the fall of Assad in 2024, Israel invaded the UN patrolled" buffer zone" in place for decades, and continues to occupy it.

In effect, Israel in 2024-25 took the remaining one-third of the Golan it did not occupy after the 6-day war in 1967. The other two-thirds it already annexed in 1981. The annexation is not recognized by the international community except for Trump Admin I.

In essence, the answer to your question is yes. This is leading to more annexation of Syrian territory.

There are no border checks. No walls. I stayed in Majdal Shams a few months ago. It is a beautiful area. The residents are permitted citizenship in Israel if they choose which the younger generation is frequently choosing. Over 20% of the Druze are now Israeli citizens.

According to a 2022 report, the Druze population in the Golan Heights is increasingly seeking Israeli citizenship. A record number of citizenship requests have been filed, with many preferring not to discuss this publicly due to community pressure and potential repercussions. Statistics reveal a sharp increase in citizenship requests, from 75–85 annually in 2017–2018 to 239 in 2021. In 2022, around 4,300 of the 21,000 Druze residents (approximately 20%) of the Golan Heights held Israeli citizenship.[92][80] Hamas' October 7 attack and its escalation to the northern front has led to increased integration of the Druze communities in the Golan with Israeli authorities. In November 2023, Majdal Shams Mayor Dolan Abu Saleh discussed the formation of the town's first IDF-trained guard squadron, calling it a milestone in the increasing "cooperation and harmony with IDF forces in the Golan villages".[80]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druze_in_Israel#:~:text=According%20to%20a%202022%20report,is%20increasingly%20seeking%20Israeli%20citizenship.