Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that he had instructed the IDF to prepare to remain on the peak of Mt. Hermon for the winter months.
Katz’s office reported that in an assessment of the situation held yesterday with the Chief of Staff and other commanders, the minister said that “due to the events in Syria, there is enormous security value to our holding on to the Hermon peak. Everything must be done to allow the fighters to remain there in the harsh weather conditions.”
יחד עם ראש הממשלה בנימין נתניהו ברמת הגולן.
משקיפים על שיא החרמון הסורי שחזר לשליטת ישראל אחרי 51 שנים.
רגע היסטורי מרגש. pic.twitter.com/oSJKoa4Bro
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) December 13, 2024
The announcement from the Office of the Minister of Defense noted that due to the difficult weather conditions, it is necessary to place appropriate facilities and make special preparations for the soldiers’ stay at the peak of Mt. Hermon.
Shortly after the fall of the Assad regime, the IDF began operating in the border area with Syria to improve its grip on it, and the Shaldag (Kingfisher) special force fighters captured the Syrian side of Mt. Hermon, more than 50 years after it had been returned to Syria as part of the separation of forces agreement after the Yom Kippur War when it was first taken by the IDF.
The buffer zone on the Golan Heights border is an area of approximately 235 square kilometers on the Syrian side of the border, which is militarily controlled by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). The zone was established as part of the separation of forces agreements signed on May 31, 1974, a little more than six months after the ceasefire of the Yom Kippur War, and marked the war’s official end. The buffer zone was defined as a demilitarized zone, and two military force dilution strips were established on both sides of it – each approximately 10 kilometers wide.
See: UN Sends New Troops to IDF’s Buffer Zone in Syria, Demanding Israeli Withdrawal
