Mount Hermon

Overview

Mount Hermon is Israel’s highest mountain and a massif extending across Israel, Lebanon and Syria. Called Jebel al-Sheikh in Arabic, it forms the southern continuation of the Anti-Lebanon range. Its highest peak, Qaṣr ʿAntar, rises 2,814 meters above sea level. The mountain borders the Golan Heights, part of the State of Israel and the historic region of Bashan, along its southern edge. Most of Bashan lies in Syria and is today occupied by Syria. Mount Hermon’s height, water resources and position near the meeting point of Israel, Lebanon and Syria have shaped its history and strategic importance.

Israel has held part of Mount Hermon since the Six-Day War in 1967. In December 2024, after Bashar al-Assad’s regime fell, Israeli troops reached the mountain’s highest summit, a position previously held by Syrian forces. From its heights, forces can observe Damascus and surrounding territory and detect threats approaching Israel. Mount Hermon also serves as an Israeli winter skiing destination. Its military posts and recreational areas occupy different parts of a mountain whose exposed upper slopes face severe winter weather.

Geography

Mount Hermon rises above the northern Golan Heights and the border area around Quneitra Governorate, Israel and Lebanon. Jurassic limestone forms most of its upper rock layer. Karstic erosion has cut crags, boulders and sinkholes into the limestone, creating difficult terrain for travel and military movement. Snow covers the peak for about two-thirds of the year. Conditions at high outposts include strong winds, cold and heavy snowfall, making shelter, communications and medical preparation essential during winter deployments.

The mountain is also a major source of water. Tributaries at its base help form the headwaters of the Jordan River, while springs fed by Mount Hermon descend eastward into the Damascus basin. The ancient site of Banias stands at its foot beside the Hermon Stream. Majdal Shams lies on the southern foothills. To the south, Mount Bental provides an overlook toward Mount Hermon; the valley between them became known as the Valley of Tears after the fighting of the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

Ancient and biblical history

Mount Hermon appears in the Book of Joshua as an endpoint of the land east of the Jordan River taken by the children of Israel. Joshua’s account places the mountain alongside Salcah and Bashan in describing the territory of conquered kings. Og’s kingdom extended across Bashan from Mount Hermon toward Salcah. These references connect the mountain to the biblical geography of Israel’s history and to Bashan, the historic region adjoining its southern slopes.

Mount Hermon’s prominence made it a recognizable landmark across the northern landscape described in biblical accounts. Its relationship to Bashan is geographic as well as historical: the mountain marks the region’s northern approach, while the Golan Heights occupy part of historic Bashan to its south. The biblical references concern a broad territory east of the Jordan, rather than a single settlement on the summit.

Jewish history

Mount Hermon’s biblical setting forms part of the historical geography of the Jewish people. In the modern State of Israel, the mountain became a place of strategic defense and public recreation after the Six-Day War. Israeli forces took its southeastern sector in 1967, including the high Hermon Shoulder, where Syrian forces had built fortifications. From positions there, Syrian troops had shelled communities in the Hula Valley. Israel subsequently built roads and developed winter sports facilities on the mountain.

That Israeli-held sector did not include Mount Hermon’s highest summit. Before the IDF reached it in December 2024, Mizpe Shelagim was the highest point on the mountain held by Israel. The distinction matters to the mountain’s modern history: Israel maintained positions on Mount Hermon for decades, while the commanding summit above them remained under Syrian control until the fall of Assad’s regime.

Modern history

Druze communities began settling the northern Golan Heights, within historic Bashan, and Mount Hermon’s slopes during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Villages remain concentrated on the mountain’s lower slopes and at its foot. Druze communities on its eastern side and in villages near the summit have been affected by changes in control and security along the Israel–Syria frontier.

Syrian forces captured Mount Hermon during their opening offensive in the Yom Kippur War on October 6, 1973. Israel’s counteroffensive drove other Syrian forces back to the Purple Line by the morning of October 10, but Syrian troops still held the mountain. Israel’s chief of staff finalized an offensive that day that included a thrust toward Mount Hermon’s foothills. Mount Hermon remained in Syrian hands on the morning of October 12. The fighting demonstrated how control of the heights could affect observation, defense and operations across the Golan.

Israel later developed forces suited to the terrain. The Israel Defense Forces created a unit specializing in alpine warfare in 1983. In 2024, amid attacks on northern Israel by the terrorist organization Hezbollah, the IDF established a Mountain Brigade to strengthen defense of the Mount Hermon and Mount Dov sectors. The brigade replaced the 810th Hermon Brigade, was assigned to the IDF’s 210th Division and was placed under Col. Liron Appleman. Hezbollah initially claimed that it had fired a Falaq 1 rocket at an IDF brigade headquarters north of Majdal Shams.

Security

Mount Hermon’s elevation gives forces on its summit a vantage point over Damascus and surrounding territory. Its position between Israel, Lebanon and Syria also makes it significant to monitoring threats across more than one frontier. Hezbollah’s activity in Lebanon and Syria has heightened the importance of the mountain’s approaches to Israel. Israeli defense planning has therefore treated its observation posts, access routes and nearby Mount Dov as connected parts of the northern security landscape.

On December 7, 2024, the IDF helped repel an attack on a United Nations post near Khader and then reinforced its presence along the border below Mount Hermon. After Bashar al-Assad’s regime fell on December 8, the IDF secured the Syrian side of Mount Hermon and the buffer zone established under the 1974 Agreement on Disengagement between Israel and Syria. During Operation Arrow of Bashan, its ground advance to the mountain and buffer zone was accompanied by aerial and naval strikes on abandoned Assad-regime military assets elsewhere in Syria. Israeli troops took the former Syrian outpost above Israel’s established positions and reached Mount Hermon’s highest summit.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz visited the newly secured summit on December 17, 2024. Netanyahu linked Israel’s continued presence there to an alternative security arrangement that would safeguard Israel. In January 2025, Ahmed al-Sharaa warned that Syria would apply pressure if Israeli forces did not withdraw from Mount Hermon and the buffer zone. The summit remained central to Israel’s early warning needs and to efforts to prevent weapons from reaching Hezbollah.

Present day

By December 23, 2024, the IDF was preparing two Mount Hermon outposts for deployment through winter. One was planned at nearly 8,000 feet, with reinforced buildings designed for deep snow. The other stood near the summit, above 9,000 feet, at a post abandoned by the Syrian army when Assad’s regime fell. The IDF restored infrastructure there, installed communications and water systems, and prepared equipment for freezing conditions. Both outposts included facilities to treat soldiers with hypothermia. These preparations supported a prolonged deployment in a sector where weather can impede transport and routine operations.

Weapons-clearing operations continued in 2025. By January 5, IDF raids on Mount Hermon’s northern summit had found, confiscated or destroyed mines, anti-tank missiles, rockets, launchers and explosive devices. Forces also found short-range 107 mm artillery shells at a mountain post. At new sites on the northern summit in March, troops located military equipment and an explosive device weighing tens of kilograms. Removing these weapons reduced immediate risks around the newly secured positions.

Israel also began an aid program for Syrian Druze communities, including villages on Mount Hermon’s slopes with about 50,000 residents. The program followed Israel’s commitment to protect local Druze communities after Assad’s fall. Direct Israel–Syria talks about a possible security arrangement began in April 2025; later reports described an impasse over withdrawal, demilitarization and provisions concerning Druze security. Mount Hermon remained a focal point because its summit overlooks routes toward Israel and provides warning of activity across the surrounding territory.