MEE staff
Middle East Eye / December 10, 2024
Israel earlier denied its soldiers were pressing deeper into Syria, as its forces also bomb Syria’s navy in Latakia.
Israel is planning a “sterile defence zone” in southern Syria as it continues attacking the country in the wake of President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz made the announcement hours after the country was forced to deny that their forces had reached 10km into Syrian territory.
“Together with the prime minister, I have instructed the [military] to establish a sterile defence zone free of weapons and terrorist threats in southern Syria, without a permanent Israeli presence,” Katz said during a visit to a naval base in the Israeli city of Haifa.
He claimed it was in order to “to prevent the establishment and organisation of terrorism in Syria”.
Two regional security sources and one Syrian security source told Reuters on Tuesday that Israeli military forces reached the town of Qatana, located 10km into Syrian territory, east of the demilitarised zone that separates the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syria.
Israel has taken advantage of the instability following the overthrow of Assad on Sunday and has been launching air strikes across Syria in what it says is an attempt to prevent advanced weaponry falling into the wrong hands.
According to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (SOHR), Israel has carried out 300 strikes across the country since Sunday.
Syrian media reported that Israel’s air force bombed the Latakia port on Monday, where 15 Syrian naval vessels were docked.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said its strikes were aimed at ensuring the Syrian rebels don’t have access to the former Assad government’s weapons depots and military infrastructure.
“We have no intention of interfering in Syria’s internal affairs, but we clearly intend to do what is necessary to ensure our security,” Netanyahu said.
“I authorised the air force to bomb strategic military capabilities left by the Syrian army, so that they would not fall into the hands of the jihadists.”
Israel on Tuesday denied allegations it had moved its forces out of the Golan Heights, which it has been occupying since 1967.
“The reports circulated by some media outlets claiming that the Israeli Defense Forces [military] are advancing towards or nearing Damascus are completely false,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee wrote on X.
“The IDF forces are stationed within the buffer zone and at defensive points near the border in order to protect Israel’s borders.”
Strategic mountain seized
On Sunday, Israeli forces advanced from the occupied Golan Heights into a buffer zone between Israel and Syria, saying the end of Assad’s rule meant that the 1974 “disengagement agreement” between the two countries had collapsed and “Syrian forces have abandoned their positions”.
“I directed the [Israeli military] yesterday to seize the buffer zone and the commanding positions nearby. We will not allow any hostile force to establish itself on our border,” Netanyahu said.
However, several Israeli officials told The New York Times that Israeli forces advanced beyond the buffer zone and crossed several kilometres into Syrian territory.
Israel’s military was in control of the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, a strategic position overlooking Syria and Lebanon, and several other locations, according to the report.
The Israeli military’s chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, also said on Saturday night that Israel “deployed troops into Syrian territory”.
Halevi didn’t elaborate, but his comments appear to conclude that Israeli forces advanced beyond the buffer zone.
The UN’s special envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, on Tuesday cautioned Israel that its air strikes and ground invasion into Syrian territory needed to stop. He warned its actions were in violation of the 1974 agreement between Israel and Syria.
“What we are seeing is a violation of the disengagement agreement from 1974, so we will obviously, with our colleagues in New York, follow this extremely closely in the hours and days ahead,” he told a media briefing in Geneva.
New prime minister confirmed
State media confirmed on Tuesday that Mohammad al-Bashir had been appointed head of a Syrian transitional government that will be in place until 1 March 2025.
“The general command has tasked us with running the transitional government until March 1,” said a statement attributed to Bashir on state television’s Telegram account, referring to him as “the new Syrian prime minister”.
Bashir was previously head of the HTS-backed government in Idlib, and was announced on Monday to be temporarily taking over the country’s running.
The Syrian Salvation Government (SSG), the name of the HTS-backed administration in Idlib, was established in 2017 following HTS’s split from al-Qaeda.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday called on all nations to support an “inclusive” political process in Syria.
He said the US would be willing to recognise such a government if it met their standards.
“The Syrian people will decide the future of Syria. All nations should pledge to support an inclusive and transparent process and refrain from external interference,” Blinken said in a statement.
