Israeli ministers and officials have met this week to discuss plans to divide Syria into provincial blocs, in the latest advancement of a reported Israeli strategy to secure its national security interests in the neighbouring country.

Having been reportedly held prior to an upcoming discussion with Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the meeting also covered an Israeli plan revealed last month by the London-based news outlet, Middle East Eye, which reported that Tel Aviv had planned to divide Syria into three blocks – the Kurds in the north-east, the Druze in the south and the late Assad regime in Damascus – before those plans were apparently foiled by the rebel takeover and fall of Assad on 8 December.
Under these newly-developed plans, Israel’s security establishment reportedly sees Syria being divided into provincial regions or cantons, which the Israeli paper explained would aim to “safeguard the security and rights of all Syrian ethnic groups”.
According to the outlet, Israeli energy and infrastructure minister, Eli Cohen, is reported to have suggested the broader discussion of such plans at an international conference on the issue – one that should apparently not be directly tied to Tel Aviv due to the discomfort Syrians would feel at its involvement.