Wars are remembered by their iconic images, and finding a triumphal photograph has been a key goal for belligerents striving to leave their mark on history. On 8 December, after fighting ceaselessly for 14 months, Israel finally got its image of victory. It shows three soldiers in full combat gear posing with Israel’s Star of David-and-stripes flag on a mountaintop against the cloudy sky. The IDF’s special forces captured the highest peak of Mount Hermon in Syria, explained the caption, overlooking Damascus and the Golan Heights.
Mere hours after the flight of Syria’s deposed despot, Bashar al-Assad, Israel launched a quick attack to capture the formerly demilitarised zone across the disengagement line that has marked the de facto Israel-Syrian border since 1974, pushing its conquest up to the Hermon peak. The land grab, which met no resistance, was coupled with a massive bombing campaign to destroy the dangerous assets left behind by the ousted regime’s military: jet fighters and helicopters, warships, missile factories and storage facilities, air defence systems, research and development laboratories. All were targeted lest they fall into enemy hands.
