Netanyahu called for “full demilitarization” of southern Syria, where Israel had illegally expanded its power.
Israel will not allow Syrian government forces to operate on territory south of Damascus, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned.
Speaking to a military ceremony in Israel on Sunday, Netanyahu called for “full demilitarization of South Syria from the troops of the new Syrian regime in Queitra, Daraa and Suweyda.”
“We will not allow the HTS organization or the new Syrian army to enter the area south of Damascus,” Netanyahu said. Assad last December.
He also warned that Israel would not accept the threat to Syrian Druze community. Syria lives in Golan Heights, a Syrian territory illegally occupied by Israel and other parts of southwestern Syria.
Israel took advantage of Al-Assad’s fall to expand into a buffer zone between Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and southern Syria, violating the 1974-brokered UN agreement.
Druze is a religious minority found in several countries in the region. In Syria, many have expressed opposition to Israel’s southwest expansion, with thousands of people living in occupied Golan Heights refusing to steal Israel’s citizenship.
However, in Israel, the majority of the Druze population supports the state of Israel, and men are conscripted into the military.
Israel accounts for about two-thirds of Golan’s height and has a minor buffer zone spanning a narrow 400 square kilometre (154 square miles) area. The rest is managed by Syria.
In 1974, Israel and Syria attacked a ceasefire agreement that determined Golan Heights would become a demilitarized buffer zone.
However, shortly after Al-Assad’s collapse in December last year, Israeli forces moved within the buffer zone and carried out hundreds of airstrikes on Syrian military assets.
Israel has been justifying its attacks on Syria for years by claiming it is eliminating Iran’s military targets. However, Iran says none of its troops are in Syria at the moment, indicating that the new Syrian government does not want to fight Israel.
The Israeli military has now established two posts on Mount Harmon in Syria, said Israel Katz.
On Sunday, Netanyahu said Israeli forces remain in the buffer zone of Mount Harmon and occupied Golan Heights, indefinitely “to protect our community and stop the threat.”
Source link
