WhatsappDefense Minister Yisrael Katz visited the buffer zone between Israel and Syria that the IDF now fully controls. He made it clear that Israel is there indefinitely.
“Every morning when Al Joulani opens his eyes in the presidential palace in Damascus, he will see the IDF watching him from the heights of Mount Hermon and will remember that we are here and in all the security areas in southern Syria – to protect the residents of the Golan and the Galilee against any threat from him and his jihadist friends; we will strengthen ties with the residents of the region, and soon, on the 16th of the month, the employment of the Druze in the Golan Heights communities will begin.”
The buffer zone, is located up to around five kilometers from Israel’s border. Within the buffer zone and areas adjacent to it, there are some 40,000 Syrian residents, many of them Druze. It is within this area that the IDF established its nine posts.
Katz vowed that Israel “will protect the Druze” in southern Syria. Beginning from March 16, Israel will allow the first Syrian Druze to enter Israel for work in the Golan Heights. The revolutionary plan is being led by Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, a Druze himself and who heads the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories.
Katz also said that Israel was “tightening its relationship with the locals.” The IDF has been assisting civilians in repairing broken water and electricity lines, and in some of the cases also provided medical attention.
