The fragile political status quo between Israel and Syria existing since the end of the last formal war between the two states in 1972 – a tense and fragile armistice – serves as the background for Israel’s policy in the current Syrian conflict surveyed in the chapter. Israel’s policy was modeled according to an organising principle combining humanitarian and military activity: building civilian bridges, on the one hand, while acting militarily to secure Israeli interests, on the other hand. Israel was acting initially as a ’passive onlooker’, then as a ’good neighbour’, and, more recently, as a declared rival against the Iranian presence in Syria. The chapter explores these Israeli policies, in addition to ’humanitarian diplomacy’ – the civilian and government assistance provided in the Syrian Golan Heights area – and Israel’s role in the efforts to build a set of common interests with Syrian opposition groups. Finally, this chapter addresses the new challenges and opportunities facing Israel in light of the shifting situation across its north-eastern border.

Starting as a civil uprising calling for liberal reforms in March 2011, the struggle in Syria rapidly deteriorated into a proxy-led armed conflict involving multiple state-sponsored and non-state actors, including foreign militias and local armed groups. The current state of affairs in Syria and the uncertainty regarding its future raise numerous questions for scholars of both international law and politics. The combination of legal and political issues was used in this volume to tackle and evaluate questions of justice within the context of a changing political reality in Syria. This volume contributes uniquely to the scholarship on the Syrian war, raising voices not often heard within this research context from the region and beyond. The volume is divided to three sections: Part I sets the factual and legal framework for the Syrian conflict; Part II focuses on the implications of the conflict for the Syrian neighbourhood; and Part III analyses possible post-conflict scenarios. Together, they address the key themes and questions of the conflicts.

This section wraps the book's analysis of the conflict in Syria and points to the indeterminacies that still remain. They include, among others, the shape and form of the emerging political structure of Syria, how the refugee crisis will be resolved, and whether international justice could be achieved. The conclusions of the volume portray guidelines for political or legal attempts that will be made to resolve those indeterminacies. It is the mapping and analysis of how the fundamental norms of the international community were brutally violated and the difficulties of restoring justice at the moment, while also elaborating on the developments within the political arena in which all of these events take place, that provide keys for coping with future challenges for both Syria and the international community.

The conclusion of the Syrian war suggests an international failure to prevent a mass calamity and to protect those millions of innocent civilians Irrespective of the developments within Syria, it is already clear that the implications of this conflict will accompany us for years to come and it is not unthinkable that a new chapter of this war will be ignited again in the future.