Israel has established an expanding network of military outposts and fortifications within Syria and Lebanon, intensifying concerns regarding an extended military presence in these regions.

Israel claims that the deployment aims to prevent recurrent surprise attacks akin to the October 2023 Hamas-led assault that ignited the Gaza conflict. However, it has not specified the duration of its forces’ stay in these neighbors’ territories, where groups inimical to Israel are situated.

Indicators suggest that Israel seems prepared for an indefinite stay, as revealed by a visual analysis conducted by The New Times.

Israeli forces have installed watchtowers, prefabricated living modules, roads, and communication infrastructure, according to local inhabitants and the United Nations. A January image of an area near the Syrian town of Jubata al-Khashab displays heavy machinery at work and a freshly constructed boundary wall.

The most conspicuous build-up has been observed in the demilitarized buffer zone in Syria, where Israeli forces have taken position and erected checkpoints throughout the area. They have also ventured beyond this zone — established following the 1973 Arab-Israeli war — within Syrian territory, including on a hill overlooking the village of Kodana.

“They claim it’s temporary, but based on what they’re constructing, it appears they’re preparing for a prolonged stay,” stated Omar Tahan, a local leader in Kodana.

Israel also posits that its forces will maintain a presence in five locations in southern Lebanon to safeguard Israeli communities from potential threats.

Initially part of a cease-fire agreement reached in late November, Israel pledged to withdraw from the country by a deadline that was subsequently extended. Negotiations between the two nations are ongoing.

Concurrent with the Gaza conflict, Israel has been battling Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group based in Lebanon, along its northern border. Hezbollah initiated attacks with rockets and drones on Israeli positions shortly after the October 7 Hamas-led assault, initiating a cycle of retaliation and displacement for thousands of residents on both sides of the border.

Last summer, Israel instigated a large-scale aerial campaign and ground invasion that resulted in the deaths of Hezbollah’s top leadership and many of its combatants. The conflict, according to Lebanese authorities, claimed approximately 4,000 lives in Lebanon and left over 16,000 wounded.

An incursion into Syria

Israel maintains that its presence in southern Syria — where it has established at least nine outposts — is to protect communities in northern Israel. It expresses distrust towards the new government in Damascus, ruled by Islamist rebels that overthrew President Bashar al-Assad last year.

In 1973, Syria — alongside Egypt — made a surprise attack that caught Israel off guard. The following year, Israel and Syria agreed to a truce that established a buffer zone where neither military could operate.

However, after Mr. al-Assad’s fall, Israeli soldiers advanced into the buffer zone and beyond, with Israeli warplanes executing hundreds of strikes against military sites nationwide.

Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Shara, stated that his nation remains committed to the 1974 truce. However, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, asserted that the truce “collapsed” with Mr. al-Assad’s fall. He now demands the “complete demilitarization” of much of southern Syria “from the forces of the new regime.”

In January, Israel Katz, Israel’s defense minister, stated that the nation’s forces are prepared to remain in the buffer zone, where thousands of Syrian residents live, “for an indefinite period.” They continued their raids deeper into southern Syria.

In further indication of Israel’s expanding control, Mr. Katz added that his government would start granting permits to some Syrians to enter the Golan Heights for employment. Israel annexed the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in the 1967 war.

In recent weeks, Israeli trucks have been spotted operating along the buffer zone. A January photo showed construction vehicles at work near the town of Quneitra.

Satellite images captured by Planet Labs on January 21 reveal a newly built outpost and a 75-acre bulldozed area near Jubata al-Khashab.

Israeli forces have occupied abandoned outposts, fortifying and erecting concrete watchtowers, including a hilltop outpost overlooking the nearby towns of Hader in Syria and Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights.

Elsewhere, construction vehicles are building access roads for the military outposts and digging a defensive line along the Alpha Line, which separates the Golan Heights from the buffer zone. According to the Israeli military, its engineers have been reinforcing the barrier along the border as part of its security efforts.

Staying put in Lebanon

In Lebanon, despite the initial agreement to depart in January, Israeli forces have established outposts in five locations.

Israel has long feared a surprise attack by Hezbollah from its southern Lebanese strongholds. As part of the cease-fire, the Lebanese army should have taken over the region, which it has started to do. Nevertheless, Israel continues to virtually bombard southern Lebanon daily, accusing Hezbollah of truce violations.

Over 90,000 Lebanese remain displaced, particularly from the devastated border villages, where a significant number of homes have been demolished.

Satellite images and video evidence show Israel building military installations on the Lebanese side of the border. The Times was able to identify the locations of the five outposts.

At a site just outside the eastern Lebanese town of Khiam, satellite images reveal a path leading to a rectangular structure characteristic of a military outpost built this year. Cars and trucks are parked inside the enclosed area.

Photos also show an Israeli flag planted at this site. Trees dotting the nearby hill had been cleared in recent weeks too.

Another outpost was constructed between the towns of Markaba and Houla. Satellite images from March depict a new, wide path leading to a rectangular outpost with cars parked inside. The nearby area was cleared of debris.

The U.N. peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL, which supervises the conflict along the Lebanon-Israel border, has two outposts within 400 yards of the new Israeli site. Videos reviewed by The Times show Israeli forces operating nearby.

In another location on Lebanon’s southern border with Israel, near the town of Aitaroun, satellite imagery shows the beginnings of a similar structure — walled and rectangular, with cars inside — on a mountaintop. Near the town of Marwahin, satellite imagery shows the initial stages of similar structures being built around a hilltop, overlooking the Israeli settlement of Zar’it.

Satellite imagery and photos also confirm that new concrete blocks and barbed wire have been added to this part of the border wall.

Footage published by a reporter working for al-Manar, a Hezbollah-owned TV channel, and verified by The Times, shows Israeli forces in this area after the withdrawal deadline. One video shows a soldier raising an Israeli flag.