IDF Operation Good Neighbor

Syrian rebel fighters from the Quneitra province walk with their rifles as they wait at the Morek crossing point to be transfered in the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo on July 21, 2018. (AFP Photo/Aaref Watad)

January 14, 2019, 11:06 pm

IDF chief finally acknowledges that Israel supplied weapons to Syrian rebels

In interview with UK’s Sunday Times, outgoing army commander Gadi Eisenkot says Israel gave opposition groups light arms ‘for self-defense’

By Judah Ari Gross

Israeli troops shut down the army's 'Operation Good Neighbor' project that helped thousands of Syrians after Syrian dictator Bashar Assad took control of the area bordering Israel, in September 2018. (Israel Defense Forces)

September 13, 2018, 9:59 pm

As war nears end, IDF shutters ‘Good Neighbor’ Syrian aid program

As dictator Bashar Assad sets up in area near Israel, Israel closes border clinic, halts shipments of food to war-torn area

By Judah Ari Gross

Syrian rebel fighters sit behind deployed machine guns during a military parade near the southern city of Daraa on June 7, 2018. (Mohamad Abazeed/AFP)

September 6, 2018, 8:58 pm

Report: Israel armed rebels in south Syria for years, in effort to block Iran

Fighters tell Foreign Policy the Jewish state provided them with funding and weapons from 2013, but pulled support as Assad’s troops regained control of border area

By TOI staff

An IDF soldier at the Mazor Ladach field clinic on the Golan Heights, where soldiers and foreign volunteers provided medical care to some 6,800 Syrians between August 2017 and August 2018. (Courtesy IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

August 3, 2018, 3:10 pm

As Israel’s Syria aid operation winds down, IDF begins dismantling field clinic

Move comes after Operation Good Neighbor ‘frozen’ amid Assad regime and Russian offensive that retakes control of border area

By TOI staff

IDF soldiers oversee the transfer of 422 'White Helmet' rescue workers and their families through Israel and into Jordan, as they flee the Assad regime, on July 22, 2018. (Israel Defense Forces)

July 22, 2018, 8:44 pm

IDF officer: Syrian refugees’ eyes ‘twinkled’ as they crossed through Israel

Military releases footage showing the transfer of 422 ‘White Helmets’ rescue workers and their families, who entered Israel before traveling to Jordan, in a late-night operation

By Judah Ari Gross

Israeli troops prepare to deliver tons of food and other humanitarian aid to southern Syria in July 2018. (Israel Defense Forces)

July 19, 2018, 3:45 pm

IDF delivers aid to displaced Syrians as rebels surrender to Assad

Army says food, fuel, tents delivered; assistance comes just before opposition hands over heavy weapons, government forces return to area in country’s southwest

By Judah Ari Gross

Residents of the Israeli Golan Heights donating care packages for displaced Syrians fleeing the civil war in Syria, July 2018. (IDF)

July 11, 2018, 5:36 pm

IDF delivers clothes, toys donated by Israeli Golan residents to Syrian kids

Army transfers hundreds of care packages across the border overnight as part of its ‘Good Neighbor’ mission

By Stuart Winer

Displaced Syrian children from the Daraa province fleeing shelling by pro-government forces wait in a makeshift camp to cross the Jordanian border, near the town of Nasib, southern Syria, on July 1, 2018.( AFP / Mohamad ABAZEED)

July 2, 2018, 2:19 pm

Israeli communities collect toys, candy, clothes for Syrian refugees

‘These are our neighbors,’ Golan Regional Council says, calling on residents to give displaced kids ‘a moment of sweet, innocent joy’

By Michael Bachner

A displaced Syrian girl from the Daraa province fleeing shelling by pro-government forces carries a toddler in a makeshift camp in the province of Quneitra, southwestern Syria, near the border with the Golan Heights, on June 22, 2018. (AFP/Mohamad Abazeed)

July 1, 2018, 8:30 pm

IDF doesn’t expect mass border breaches by Syrians fleeing Assad offensive

Officer in charge of Israel’s Good Neighbor humanitarian aid program says some assistance comes from anonymous Arab states; Israel to continue helping, even as fighting intensifies

By Judah Ari Gross

Israeli army medics bring injured Syrian nationals into Israel for medical treatment on June 29, 2018. (Israel Defense Forces)

June 30, 2018, 9:35 pm

Israel takes in 6 Syrians hurt in latest fighting, 4 of them newly orphaned kids

Army says injured were brought over in ‘unique, complicated medical operation’ on Friday night, received first aid from soldiers before being moved to Israeli hospital

By Judah Ari Gross

A Syrian government forces' soldier smokes a cigarette on an armored vehicle during a government guided tour in the village of al-Sourah, province of Daraa, on June 29, 2018.
(AFP PHOTO / Youssef KARWASHAN)

June 30, 2018, 4:14 am

UN calls for armed groups to leave Golan area separating Israel-Syria forces

Call comes as Assad presses offensive against rebels in the area, causing tens of thousands of civilians to flee toward Jordan and Israel

By AFP and TOI staff

IDF officers on the Golan Heights managing an operation on June 28, 2018 to provide humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees in tent encampments in southwestern Syria. (Israel Defense Forces)

June 29, 2018, 12:24 pm

IDF sends aid to Syrians fleeing Daraa in overnight ‘Good Neighbor’ operation

300 tents, 28 tons of food, including baby food, and 30 tons of clothing and shoes delivered; tens of thousands seek to escape Assad offensive

By Judah Ari Gross

In this undated photo provided on July 19, 2017, IDF soldiers prepare humanitarian aid as part of the army's 'Good Neighbor' program for Syrian civilians on the Syrian Golan Heights. (Israel Defense Forces)

From the WebFebruary 15, 2018, 11:15 am

With humanitarian aid, Israel raises unmeetable expectations among Golan Syrians

Rebel groups see Jerusalem as a potential savior, but Israel is looking out first for its own interests, foreign policy site War on the Rocks reports

Illustrative: Police officers close off the area around Jerusalem Central Bus Station, after a Palestinian terrorist stabbed a security guard there, on December 10, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

January 10, 2018, 11:17 pm

Terror attacks tripled after Trump Jerusalem recognition, Shin Bet stats show

Figures released by security service show 249 incidents in December, most of them firebombings, compared to 84 in November

By Judah Ari Gross

Illustrative: Israelis take cover during rocket attack siren warning in kibbutz Kfar Aza near the Israel and Gaza border, Israel, December 29, 2017. (AP/Tsafrir Abayov)

January 7, 2018, 6:19 am

Gaza rocket attacks doubled, but terror tally plummeted in 2017, army says

Amid rising tensions with Strip, IDF says last year saw 35 projectiles launched; 99 terror attacks elsewhere, compared to 269 in previous year

By Judah Ari Gross