Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israeli forces have seized a buffer zone in the Golan Heights established by a 1974 ceasefire agreement with Syria, the AP reports. He spoke from an overlook near the border between Syria and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, after Syrian rebels dramatically ended President Bashar al-Assad's rule. Netanyahu said the 50-year-old agreement had collapsed and that Syrian troops had abandoned their positions, necessitating the Israeli takeover as a "temporary defensive position." Defense Minister Israel Katz said on X that the IDF has been instructed to "seize the buffer zone and control points to ensure the protection of all Israeli communities in the Golan Heights—Jewish and Druze,"
The Israeli military said Sunday it was reinforcing a barrier along its border with Syria as part of its "enhanced preparedness" in the area, and the Israeli military sent additional troops to the Golan Heights to bolster Israel's presence along the border. Israel released images of the barrier construction, which showed bulldozers digging what appeared to be a trench. Satellite images show that as early as September, Israel began building what could be a new road right along the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Golan Heights from Syria.
The United Nations maintains a peacekeeping force in the demilitarized zone called the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, or UNDOF. Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it. The international community, except for the United States, views it as occupied Syrian territory. A later ceasefire created a demilitarized buffer zone between the two countries' territories, prohibiting military presence or activity from either side. After the 1973 Mideast war, the UN Secretary Council voted to create UNDOF to patrol a roughly 155-square-mile demilitarized zone and maintain the peace there, and UN peacekeepers have patrolled the area since 1974.
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The Arab League on Sunday condemned Israel for taking advantage of Assad's downfall by moving into more Syrian territory. The Israeli military said Sunday it also sent troops to "other places necessary for its defense." It added it was "not interfering with the internal events in Syria." Agricultural areas along the border were declared closed military zones and some schools shifted to online classes in anticipation of unrest. The IDF on Sunday instructed residents of five Syrian villages inside the buffer zone to stay inside their houses until told otherwise, the BBC reports. (More Golan Heights stories.)
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