The future of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights has become a hot topic of debate, after the Israel Defense Forces pushed troops and tanks over the border into Syrian territory.

The United Nations Security Council on Friday extended a long-running peacekeeping mission between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights for six months and expressed concern that military activities in the area could escalate tensions.

The Golan Heights is recognized by the international community — except the US and Israel — as Israeli-occupied territory captured from Syria during the 1967 war. The World’s Host Marco Werman speaks with Joshua Landis,

People walk past a sign in the Druze village of Majdal Shams, located near the “Alpha Line” that separates the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights from Syria, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix) People attend a rally celebrating the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government,

The Israeli government decided on Sunday to double its population on the occupied Golan Heights while saying threats from Syria remained despite the moderate tone of rebel leaders who ousted President Bashar al-Assad.

More than four decades later, the entire international community - bar the US and Israel - considers the Golan Heights to be Syrian territory under Israeli occupation. In 2019, the US recognised the Golan Heights as Israeli sovereign territory during Donald Trump’s first term – becoming the only state to do so.

Israel's "demographic development" plan to increase settler numbers only applies to the area of the Golan Heights that Israel seized during the Six Day War in 1967 and later annexed in 1981 and not to territory taken since al-Assad's ouster.

Does Israel's seizure of Syrian territory serve temporary security goals? Or is it a permanent land grab that might thwart future friendly ties with Syria's new rulers and diplomatic relations with other Arab countries?