In contrast to the fighting in the south and on the Lebanese border, the Syrian sector of the Golan Heights is relatively calm, but that does not change the fact that as of 7 October, infantry and tank battalions are stationed along the fence, with a finger on the trigger and a shell in the barrel, waiting for the order.
Documentation: IDF attacks anti-tank launcher near Lebanese border // IDF Spokesperson
"The soldiers here would like to be in the south now," admits Maj. Moshe Costa, commander of the company supporting the 7490th reserve battalion. "The difficulty here is expressed in the pastoral routine of snowy Hermon, in coping with the coming winter. We had a storm which was a waste of time. It's hard to keep soldiers in operational tension, but I think something happened to them after October 7.
"The biggest punishment for a soldier is to go home. Just give him a task. If once everyone came to the reserves with his troubles, today they put everything aside. There is a company commander here who went home on Wednesday, got married the next day and returned on Saturday. The feeling is that you don't want it to end without destroying the enemy. It will take six months or a year, but let's do it right."
An outpost with a battle legacy
We sat down with Costa, who will soon celebrate his 40th birthday and runs the pre-military preparatory school in Jaffa, at an outpost close to the border fence in the eastern Golan Heights. A cold wind greeted us, and the thick mud of early winter. This is an outpost with a dramatic battle legacy from the Yom Kippur War, which for many years was shut down and recently came to life.
Company commander Costa (right). "Until we remove the threat", photo: Moshe Shai
"There were ditches full of weeds that the guys cleaned, and then they filled sandbags here. Very hard work," the company commander says. "There are high-tech people who aren't used to such work, but you haven't heard a complaint from them. I am a values educator in the preparatory program. Talk about the smartphone generation that thought it was spoiled. Now we've discovered that he's not like that at all."
The soldiers say that although they experienced occasional warnings and some gunfire, they mostly noticed the movement of forces near the border since the outbreak of fighting. On the other side of the fence you can find Syrian army forces, Iranian militias and Hezbollah affiliates. Costa says that after the IDF entered Gaza on the ground, the tension in the area calmed down a bit.
"Either it's the quiet before the storm, or they understand that the IDF is strong," he says. "Our army has always had the capabilities, only we were complacent, and now that it is ready, the other side understands that it has no chance. We are preparing for the most difficult scenarios, and the enemy knows that if it raises its head, it will be kidnapped."
The post. With a long history,
This week, the company commander was visited by CSOs from the surrounding communities, who came to see if the protection they were receiving could be trusted. On 7 October, quite a few of the Golan Heights communities feared that the atrocities from the Gaza envelope would reach them as well.
"Before that, they said, 'Give us weapons, we don't trust anyone,'" Costa says. "Now they know they can sleep soundly, but our soldiers who live in the area say, 'If we don't solve the problem, we won't be able to live here, because next time we'll be kidnapped.' We must now remove the threat from the north and the south."
A few kilometers away sits Company C of the battalion, which functions as a reserve. It is patiently waiting for the day when it will have to reinforce forces during an erupting event, assist a force caught in heavy fire, or eliminate the possibility of infiltration from the Syrian side.
In remission. "The challenge is also mental", photo: Moshe Shai
"The pictures in Gaza sit well in our heads," promises Capt. David Pecha, the company's acting commander. "If before that the border area was not perceived as dangerous, after what happened in the envelope, we understand how easy it is to breach the fence, which was considered sophisticated, and this puts us all on alert. We try to train as much as possible and keep us on high alert, but it's also a mental challenge."
We sat in the camp's war room, which was built from scratch in an abandoned area on the plateau. Neat tents, showers, football games to pass the time and plenty of cups of coffee to stay awake. I asked if they would change the comfortable sector and wander to the fighting in the south.
"This is a sensitive point," admits the operations officer, Capt. Uri Alkalai. "You want to be a partner in the fighting, that's what you were brought up on, and it's a little confusing to sit back, but we all know that the threat is broad. We cannot direct all our power to one place and be weak at other points. We cannot allow what happened to happen in another sector."
Want to go all the way
Alkalai, 26, a climbing instructor, is one of the newest members of the battalion. A few days before the outbreak of the war, he left work to fly with his partner for a year in the Far East, but when the order came, he did not think twice and immediately went north.
Reservists in the Golan Heights Syrian border November 2023 Merkava tank, photo: Moshe Shai
"I can't remember a war or operation where we felt so committed to the mission," Capt. Pecha says. "In Operation Protective Edge I was just waiting for the operation to end, because it was clear to all of us that we were not going all the way. Here I want us to continue until we return the abductees and remove the threat. You feel the motivation in all of us, but at the same time I have soldiers who are independent, and don't get help or clear answers from the state about their business, and that adds to the pressure."
Ofer Badash, a veteran fighter and one of the battalion's founders, celebrated his 40th birthday while in the reserves. Only three months earlier, he had signed on to continue volunteering for the unit. "None of us want war," he says, "it screws up life, business, but I love the company and am proud to belong. Even if I hadn't signed, I would have come."
Most of the battalion's members are veterans of the Golani Brigade, which suffered a severe blow on the first day of the war. Some of the young fighters in the unit know friends who were killed in the envelope since their regular days.
"The feeling of revenge is not what motivates me every morning," promises the security officer, Capt. Alkalai, who came from Golani's 51st Battalion. "It's painful and difficult, but what motivates us is to protect our citizens and our families. That's why we go out in the rain and sun, the main thing is to eliminate the enemy."
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