In comments on Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman declared that from the Israeli perspective, the Syrian War is over, and returning to a pre-war situation, with the Assad government remaining in power.

This comes after the rebels in southern Syria had effectively lost all of their territory. It makes sense for Israel to view the war that way from their perspective, bordering southern Syria. It isn’t to say that the war is actually over, however.

Rebels still control substantial territory in northern Syria, mostly along the Turkish border. This includes northern Aleppo Province, and most of the Idlib Province. There are offensives likely to happen in the future there, but this is so far from Israel, it’s understandable it is off their radar.

Reflecting the return to normalcy in southern Syria, the UNDOF has announced that their observer forces are returning to the frontier between Quneitra and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. UNDOF had to flee the area in 2014 after rebels captured some of them.