Syria’s “de-escalation zone” along its southern border with Israel, as well as the future of the military presence of Iran and its proxy Hezbollah in Syria are the focal point of Israel’s current negotiations with Russia, Israeli Ambassador to Moscow Harry Koren said on Tuesday, TASS reported.
“The southern zone [of “de-escalation” in Syria] is probably in the center of these discussions between Israel and Russia,” Koren told journalists, adding, “But what matters most is not kilometers but Iran’s presence in Syria in general and especially in its southern part.”
The ambassador said that Iran’s “current leaders hold a radically negative position against Israel,” and are engaged in “endless demonstration of weapons, accompanied by calls to eliminate the State of Israel.”
“What are we supposed to think about the ‘friendliness’ of the Iranian leaders under such circumstances?” Koren asked.
In May, the Syrian ceasefire guarantor nations, namely Russia, Iran and Turkey, signed a memorandum on “de-escalation zones” in Syria. As of today, three such zones – in southwestern Syria, in Eastern Ghouta (a Damascus suburb), and around the city of Homs, are already functioning. The fourth one embraces the province of Idlib and parts of the neighboring Aleppo, Latakia and Hama provinces.
According to TASS, the southern “de-escalation zone” began functioning from July 9 as a result of agreements between Russia, the United States and Jordan.
Syria’s “de-escalation zones” plan calls for the cessation of hostilities between rebel groups and forces fighting for Bashar al-Assad’s regime in four areas, including the rebel-controlled south along the border with Jordan, which includes parts of Deraa and Quneitra provinces. Up to 800,000 civilians live in the arera.
Israel has opposed extending that zone to the Syrian Golan Heights, for fear that Iranian Revolutionary Guards units as well as Hezbollah would take advantage of the lull in hostilities to infiltrate. On the eve of Rish Hashanah, IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Gadi Eizenkot told Walla the army had issued a warning that any military force entering a buffer zone of 40 miles north of the Syrian border would be destroyed. Eizenkot said he believed the threat had been effective so far.