Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz both told IDF cadet officers at Sunday’s graduation ceremony in Be’er Sheva that Israel’s defense establishment has turned its eyes to Syria.
IDF troops currently deployed on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon and along the buffer zone in the Golan Heights will remain there “for an unlimited period of time,” Netanyahu said.
“We will not allow [Hayat Tahrir al-Sham] forces or the new Syrian army to move into territory south of Damascus,” he said.
The Netanyahu government is demanding “full demilitarization” of southern Syria, particularly with regard to military forces from the new Syrian regime in the provinces of Quneitra, Dara’a and Suweida.
Netanyahu added that Israel will not accept any threats to Syria’s Druze citizens who live along the border with Israel.
The defense minister, who also spoke at the ceremony, told the new officers that the IDF has established at least nine outposts within Syria’s borders, including two key positions on Mount Hermon. Seven others are distributed along the border in the buffer zone.
Prior to and during the Iron Swords War, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces and its Lebanese proxy, the Hezbollah terrorist army, maintained military bases in southern Syria, positioned for attacks against Israel.
Katz said Israeli forces will be deployed in southern Syria indefinitely in order to reinforce defensive and offensive capabilities against any threats to Israel.
Israel sent troops into the 235 sq km buffer zone to prevent Syrian rebels from approaching the border when the Turkish-backed Islamist rebels toppled the government of [former] President Bashar al-Assad late last year.
Israel also launched waves of airstrikes on Syrian army assets and Iranian stockpiles to prevent them from falling into the hands of radical Islamists.
The Israeli government considers the 1974 ceasefire agreement void until order is restored in Syria.
December’s takeover of the buffer zone marked the first time since its establishment that the IDF set up positions there. The demilitarized zone was established with the ceasefire in 1974 that ended the Yom Kippur War.
TPS-IL contributed to this report.
