Israeli Report Reveals ‘Security Cattle’ Strategy to Consolidate Settler Presence in Occupied Syrian Territory

An Israeli news report has offered a rare insight into how civilian activity is being used to strengthen Israeli occupiers’ hold over occupied Syrian territory, describing the deployment of a 140-head cattle herd as part of a strategy to establish a permanent presence beyond the Golan border fence.

The report, published by Ynet, says the herd was introduced around six months ago into an Israeli-occupied enclave on the Syrian side of the border barrier, with the backing of the Israeli military. According to the report, the initiative was designed to replace an area previously frequented by Syrian shepherds with what it describes as a continuous Israeli “civilian-agricultural presence.”

The project is being run by HaShomer HaChadash (“The New Guardian”), a hardline ultranationalist Zionist organisation founded by Yoel Zilberman in 2007. Although the group describes itself as non-partisan, it has become one of Israel’s largest civil society organisations, receiving tens of millions of dollars in funding annually and working closely with Israeli government ministries, the Israel Land Authority and other state bodies. It promotes agriculture and rural settlement as central components of Israel’s national security strategy.

Zilberman told Ynet that the initiative represented “a fundamental change in the IDF’s defence concept” following the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023.