WhatsappA day after the IDF captured the summit of Mount Hermon and the abandoned city of Queneitra, Defense Minister Yisrael Katz ordered the IDF to take over the rest of the now defunct buffer zone as well as other areas of importance to Israel’s Security.
WATCH: IDF Paratroopers Enter Syria
The Defense Minister’s office released a statement detailing recent directives given to the IDF and other security services :
1. Finalize the deployment of troops throughout the whole zone between the “Alpha” and “Bravo” 1974 lines.
2. Turning the areas adjacent to the border into a “sterile zone” without terror infrastructure and “strategic/heavy weaponry” by reaching out to local communities like the Druze and others.
3. Act accordingly against any attempts to renew weapons smuggling to the Iranian regime terrorists proxies.
4. Continue to eliminate possible threats posed by strategic weapons that were left behind by the assad regime including : ground to air missiles, air defense systems ,ground to ground missiles , cruise missiles, long range rockets, ground to sea missiles and others.
What we see quickly forming is the push by the IDF to not only takeover the UN managed buffer zone between Assad’s Syria and Israel, but the reestablishment of the Bashan Salient that existed between 1973 and 1974. More than that, with the entry of IDF paratroopers, the 98th Division, and armored units, Israel is clearly planning to move as east as possible to secure a corridor to potential Druze and Christian allies that need Israel’s protection against the Turkish backed Jihadists
The growing buffer zone will without a doubt encompass the Al-Queneitra, Daraa, and As Suwayda Governorates. This is similar to the Turkish buffer zone in Syria’s north. The difference will be Israeli investment into what will become a federalized autonomous region under the protection of the IDF. Druze in Israel and southern Syria would be able to travel back and forth. Jews from Israel would be able to visit Daraa, which was not only a Jewish city in Talmudic times but the site of the biblical city of Edrei or Edre’i, the capital of Bashan and where the Israelites defeated Og.
The speed of changes in the Middle East are happening at a rapid scale. Israel appears poised to become the regional player it is meant to be and with that a new Middle East is upon us.
Speaking from the border of the Golan yesterday, Prime Minister Netanyahu said the following: “This is a historic day for the Middle East. The collapse of the Assad regime, the tyranny in Damascus, offers great opportunity but also is fraught with significant dangers. We send a hand of peace to all those beyond our border in Syria: to the Druze, to the Kurds, to the Christians, and to the Muslims who want to live in peace with Israel.”
