 "Israeli soldiers patrol the perimeter of the agricultural settlement of Avivim, next to the Lebanese border in upper Galilee, Israel, on Monday. AP")
The Israeli military has moved into southern Syria to prevent jihadists from entering Israel, said the Isael Defense Forces (IDF) commander of the region.
Over the weekend, as Syrian opposition forces led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) overthrew the Assad dynasty, the Israeli military moved into southern Syria to seize the demilitarised buffer zone along the Israel-Syria border. The 235 square-kilometres buffer zone was created as part of the ceasefire between Israel and Syria in 1974 that ended the hostilities emanating from the Yom Kippur War (1973).
While Israel controlled the Israeli side of the buffer zone and Syrian military controlled its side of the buffer zone, the Syrian troops have withdrawn since the fall of the Assad regime and Israel has moved in to occupy region.
The Times of Israel has reported that among the areas where the Israeli military has moved into is Syrian military outpost vacated by Syrian troops at Tel Kwdana, which the military considers a strategic point in the area as it overlooks the Israeli towns of Keshet and Yonatan in the Golan Heights.
‘We’re preventing jihadists from reaching us’
While the international community has accused of violating the 1974 agreement by moving into the Syrian side of the buffer zone, Israel has maintained it is a temporary move essential to ensure the nation’s security.
Colonel Benny Kata, the commander of 474th Golan Regional Brigade, told The Times of Israel on Wednesday (December 11) that the Israeli military was working to “prevent jihadi groups from reaching here and breaching the fence, just like we prepared until now for the Iranian axis and their proxies”.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsKata said that there is a lot of uncertainty following the ouster of Assad’s regime because “what has risen is something unclear”.
Kata’s reference to jihadists appears to be a reference to HTS, an Islamist authoritarian group that has long controlled Syria’s Idlib province and helmed the swift offensive beginning late last month that overthrew the Assad dynasty in less than two weeks. Even though the HTS says it cut ties with Al Qaeda in 2016, it continues to be designated internationally as a terrorist organisation and there are doubts about its claims that it has shed its terrorist roots.
There are also fears that other jihadist groups, such as Al Qaeda or Islamic State, could ramp up their activities inside Syria and try to make it a base to expand operations in the region by utilising the upheaval caused by the uprising against the Assad dynasty.
Kata said that the Israeli military entered the buffer zone after Syrian soldiers vacated the area over the weekend.
Kata said, “There were Syrian soldiers here up until the weekend and they fled. We were then forced to push forward here and in other places and take control over the area, to defend the Golan Heights residents and the border.”
Kata said that the Syrian opposition forces on the border are “something different".
“We don’t know yet how they will act, and that’s why we took the key positions,” said Kata.
While Israel has maintained that the move into Syria is limited to the buffer zone and is not a permanent occupation, sources have been quoted as saying in Israeli media that the military may remain in the buffer zone for a long time that may extent to years.
Following the 1967 Middle East War, Israel has already been in occupation of Golan Heights, which much of the international community considers Syrian territory unlawfully occupied by Israel.