in the Golan, Israeli settlers bear witness to the violence of bombings in Syria

Israelis will stay in Syria at least until the end of winter, according to the Jewish state's defense minister. Since the fall of the Assad clan, Israeli troops have taken positions in a buffer zone monitored since 1974 by around a thousand peacekeepers and on the summit of the Golan Heights in Syrian territory.

West of the buffer zone between Israel and Syria, around 25,000 Israelis have colonized part of the Golan since the Six-Day War in 1967. In the Katzrine settlement, Thomas and his partner Shoshana are sitting on a bench just next to a shelter, built six months ago, to protect against Hezbollah strikes.

Since the ceasefire with the Lebanese government almost three weeks ago, their five children are playing outside again. He comes from Texas, she from New York. Since the end of the Assad regime a week ago, they have seen tanks passing by under their windows and they have heard the coming and going of fighter planes. “It's calm”, assures Thomas before thinking for a moment… “Not really quiet actually.”he concedes.

Israeli strikes on Syria have been there, around 2,000 bombs in one week, some sent only a few dozen kilometers from here. Yet Shoshana says she lives “in a bubble” to Katzrine: “We don’t see many things, but we hear them”.

For several days, she has heard and felt the sound of explosions. “The ground shakes, the buildings moveshe describes. According to her, “It can't be interceptions of rockets sent from Lebanon, it's much too big, much deeper. This has happened several times in recent days. It can only come from strikes by the Israeli army on depots of ammunition”, Advance Shoshana.

“Like an earthquake”, confirms Thomas. “It’s not easy to live in a permanent state of alert”recognizes Shoshana. The couple does not particularly like their Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who promised: “The region will be Israeli for eternity”. But they support his strategic choices, and it doesn't matter if he doesn't respect international law. For Thomas and Shoshana, “the UN is rotten”.