Israel seizes towns in Syria following rebel takeover

Beirut: The Israeli military on Sunday invaded a demilitarized zone in southwest Syria abutting the illegally annexed Golan Heights after Damascus fell to rebel forces.

Israeli forces also captured two towns in the southwestern Syrian province of Quneitra near Golan Heights. Reports by Israeli media outlets said Jewish troops seized the towns of Madinat al-Baath and Hader after they pushed into the buffer zone in the Quneitra area and launched artillery shelling in the strategic region.

Israeli army soldiers are now heading towards areas in Dara'a, located about 90 kilometers (56 miles) south of the capital Damascus, according to Kan TV News.

Earlier, Israeli soldiers had taken over a Syrian army outpost at the summit of Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights.

Soldiers from Shaldag, the Israeli Air Force's commando unit, captured the outpost "without encountering resistance," Kan TV News reported.

The commander of the Israeli military's Northern Command, Ori Gordin, and the commander of the Training Command, David Zini, also visited the summit, the broadcaster said.

The Syrian army reportedly left the posts following rebel advance.

The buffer zone was established in 1974 after Israel and Syria struck a disengagement agreement, with UN peacekeepers stationed there since.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared the agreement null and void, ordering his military to "seize the buffer zone and the commanding positions nearby."

Netanyahu announced its military has "temporarily" seized control of a demilitarized buffer zone in the Golan Heights, saying the 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria had "collapsed" with the rebel takeover of the country.

Netanyahu said he had ordered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to enter the buffer zone and "commanding positions nearby" from the Israeli-occupied part of the Golan.

A UK-based war monitor said Syrian troops had left their positions in Quneitra province, part of which lies inside the buffer zone, on Saturday.

Israel seized the Golan from Syria in the closing stages of the 1967 Six-Day War and unilaterally annexed it in 1981. The move was not recognised internationally, although the US did so unilaterally in 2019.

Israeli media also reported the entry of tanks into Khan Arnabeh, which is to the northeast of Quneitra and five kilometers from the border of the occupied Golan.

On Sunday, the Israeli army announced a troop deployment there, citing "the possible entry of armed individuals into the buffer zone."

"Following the recent events in Syria... the IDF  has deployed forces in the buffer zone and in several other places necessary for its defense, to ensure the safety of the communities of the Golan Heights and the citizens of Israel," a military statement said.

Israeli forces "will continue to operate as long as necessary in order to preserve the buffer zone and defend Israel," it added.

The Israeli military also claimed it was "not interfering with the internal events in Syria".

A rebel coalition led by Salafist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham entered Damascus Sunday, putting an end to 24 years of rule by President Bashar al-Assad, who fled the country.

'HAND OF PEACE'

Netanyahu said the collapse of the Assad regime was a "historic day in the Middle East".

"The collapse of the Assad regime, the tyranny in Damascus, offers great opportunity but also is fraught with significant dangers," he said.

He said events in Syria had been the result of Israeli strikes against Iran and Lebanese group Hezbollah, and insisted Israel would "send a hand of peace" to Syrians who wanted to live in peace with Israel.

The IDF seizure of Syrian positions in the buffer zone was a "temporary defensive position until a suitable arrangement is found", he said.

"If we can establish neighbourly relations and peaceful relations with the new forces emerging in Syria, that's our desire. But if we do not, we will do whatever it takes to defend the State of Israel and the border of Israel," he said.