Just a few hours after the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on December 8, driven from power by rebels, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the army to seize this UN-controlled buffer zone. separating the two countries on the Golan Heights.
A UN official in New York confirmed to AFP that the peacekeeping force had “noted a number of daily incidents where the Israeli army is operating east of the buffer zone.”
“Demographic development” project
On Sunday, the Israeli government “unanimously” approved Netanyahu’s project for “demographic development of the localities of the Golan and (the town of) Katzrin for a sum of 40 million shekels (10.6 million euros) , in light of the war and the new front in Syria and the desire to double the population of the Golan,” according to a statement from his office.
“This is a decision that strengthens the localities of the Golan and the State of Israel,” the statement added. At the same time, Netanyahu stressed that his country does not want to enter into conflict with Syria.
“We have no interest in confronting Syria, we will define Israel’s policy towards Syria based on the reality on the ground,” he said in a video released by his office.
“Capital importance of our presence”
“Today, everyone understands the critical importance of our presence on the Golan, and not at the foot of the Golan,” which overlooks the Galilee hills and Lake Galilee in northern Israel, he said. Israeli.
Around 30,000 Israelis live in 34 localities in the Golan annexed by Israel, to which are added 23,000 Druze, a community whose religion comes from Islam, who mostly claim to be Syrian while having the status of residents. in Israel.
Israel conquered part of the Golan, in southwest Syria, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, before annexing this territory in 1981. Only the United States, under the administration of Donald Trump, recognized this annexation in 2019.
Gulf countries condemn
Saudi Arabia on Sunday condemned the Israeli government’s plan to double the population in the Israeli-occupied part of the Syrian Golan, denouncing “continued sabotage of opportunities to restore security and stability in Syria” after the fall of Assad .
For its part, Qatar deplored “a new episode in the series of Israeli aggressions on Syrian territories and a flagrant violation of international law.” Last week,
Benjamin Netanyahu said that the annexed Golan would be Israeli “for eternity”.
“All winter”
The Israeli army also seized areas beyond the buffer zone. Israel presented the action, which drew international condemnation, as a temporary and defensive measure.
In the process, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered troops to “prepare to stay” in the buffer zone all winter.
To defend yourself
In a video statement Sunday following a phone call with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Netanyahu said Syria had attacked Israel in the past and allowed others, including Lebanese Hezbollah, to do so since its territory.
“To ensure that what happened in the past is not repeated, we have taken a series of intensive measures in recent days,” he said. “In a matter of days, we destroyed the capabilities that the Assad regime had built over decades,” he added.
Since Assad’s flight, Israel has carried out hundreds of attacks on Syrian territory, targeting both chemical weapons warehouses and Syrian navy air defenses, in order to prevent the weapons from falling into the hands of rebels, according to Israeli authorities.
Related News :