Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly called for the demilitarization of areas south of the Syrian capital Damascus.
Netanyahu told graduating officer cadets he wanted the provinces of Kuneitra, Daraa and Suwayda to be demilitarized, the Times of Israel reported on Sunday. Neither the Islamist group Haiat Tahrir al-Scham (HTS) nor the new Syrian army should be stationed there, Netanyahu said.
A rebel alliance led by the HTS overthrew Syria’s long-term ruler Bashar al-Assad last year. Since then, the Israeli army has significantly expanded its military activities in Syrian territory.
Netanyahu said Israeli troops would remain on Mount Hermon and in the buffer zone on the Golan Heights “for an unlimited period of time.”
The current demilitarized buffer zone is monitored by the United Nations and is located between the Syrian Golan Heights, which have been occupied by Israel since 1967, and the rest of Syria.
Syria is demanding the withdrawal of Israeli troops.
According to the newspaper report, Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz told the officer cadets that the Israeli army had so far set up nine positions on Syrian territory. Two were on Mount Hermon and seven in the buffer zone.
The army is to remain indefinitely in these positions, which serve to “defend against any challenge,” Katz said.
Read the full article here
