Israel‘s military is expected to stay in the buffer zone in neighboring Syria for the duration of the winter due to the Jewish state’s security concerns following the fall of the Assad regime.
Following Assad’s fall, Israeli forces moved into the demilitarized zone inside Syria that was created after the 1973 Israel-Arab war. The move was to ensure that the deposed leader’s military arsenal and infrastructure could not be utilized by the extremist groups within Syria’s borders that now have more ability to reconstitute and grow due to the country’s newfound instability.
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“The immediate risks to the country have not disappeared and the latest developments in Syria increase the strength of the threat — despite the moderate image that the rebel leaders claim to present,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told officials reviewing the country’s defense budget, according to a statement.
Katz’s office added that “due to what is happening in Syria, there is enormous security importance to our holding on to the peak,” in reference to the top of Mount Hermon, which overlooks Damascus.
Israel’s military has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on Syria’s strategic weapons stockpile, while the U.S. has also launched dozens of airstrikes in the country targeting ISIS. Israeli officials argue they need to ensure the Assad regime’s weapons stockpiles, which notoriously could include chemical weapons, don’t fall into the hands of Hayat Tahrir al-Shams, the main group involved in overthrowing Assad. HTS is still designated by the U.S. as a terrorist group even though it has since denounced its previous ties to Al-Qaeda and its leaders have shared promising statements since Assad fled.
While Israeli forces were happy to see Assad fall, due to his alliance with Iran, they are skeptical that the next leaders will not threaten the country’s national security. HTS has said they do not seek a conflict with Israel, but officials remain concerned about the possibility.
Critics of Israel have argued that the Jewish state has violated Syrian territorial integrity and sovereignty. France, Germany, and Spain have called on Israel to withdraw from the demilitarized zone, while the United Nations said Israel was in violation of the 1974 disengagement agreement that created the buffer zone.
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Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Herzi Halevi disagreed, saying they aren’t “intervening in what is happening in Syria.”
Rather, “There was an enemy country here. Its army collapsed. There is a threat that terror elements will come here, and we advanced so … extreme terror elements won’t settle close to the border with us.”