Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israeli forces will stay in a buffer zone on the Syrian border, seized after the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad, until another arrangement is in place “that ensures Israel’s security.”
Netanyahu made the comments from the summit of Mount Hermon — the highest peak in the area — inside Syria, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border with the Israel-held Golan Heights.
It appeared to be the first time a sitting Israeli leader had set foot that far into Syria. Netanyahu said he had been on the same mountaintop 53 years ago as a soldier, but the summit’s importance to Israel’s security has only increased given recent events.
Israel seized a swath of southern Syria along the border with the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights days after Assad was ousted by rebels last week.Israel’s capture of the buffer zone, a roughly 400-square-kilometer (155-square-mile) demilitarized area in Syrian territory, has sparked condemnation, with critics accusing Israel of violating a 1974 ceasefire and possibly exploiting the chaos in Syria in the wake of Assad’s ouster to make a land grab.
“We will stay ... until another arrangement is found that ensures Israel’s security,” said Netanyahu who had traveled to the buffer zone on Tuesday with Defense Minister Israel Katz.
Katz said he instructed the Israeli military to quickly establish a presence, including fortifications, in anticipation of what could be an extended stay in the area. “The summit of the Hermon is the eyes of the state of Israel to identify our enemies who are nearby and far away,” he said.
An Israeli military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations, said there is no plan to evacuate the Syrians living in villages within the buffer zone.
The buffer zone between Syria and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights was created by the U.N. after the 1973 Mideast war. A U.N. force of about 1,100 troops had patrolled the area since then.
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The Syrian people liberated themselves & Netanyahu immediately started bombing the country & calling the new government Nazis. Awful. Israel wanted Assad to stay & that was strategically & morally wrong. Now Israel has a chance to reset relations with a free and democratic Syria.
I’m no Netanyahu fan, but you’re putting words in his mouth. Israel isn’t “bombing the country.” It’s destroying chemical weapons. Bibi isn’t calling the new gov’t Nazis. He’s saying it’s crucial to keep weapons from bad actors. He said nothing about wanting Assad in power.
Free and democratic? Looks like more of the same violent jihadi authoritarianism to me.
Agreed:
BREAKING NEWS: Suleiman Hilal al Assad, cousin of the socialist tyrant Bashar al Assad, is executed in Latakia, Syria. The rebels put a rope around his neck and hanged him on a crane in front of those present, until he died.
Those that believe Syria has been liberated are in for a rude awakening
they’ve swapped like for like !
This is so moronic and twisted. The person who deserves the most credit for liberating Syria is Bibi Netanyahu, who demolished Hezbollah. This is such addled stupidity:
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