JERUSALEM, Jan 29 (NNN-MA’AN) – Arrogant Israeli Defence Minister, Israel Katz, said yesterday that, the regime’s military forces will remain in Syria for an “unlimited time.”
“The Zionist Israeli Defence Forces will remain at the summit of Mount Hermon, and in the buffer zone indefinitely,” Katz said, during a visit to military posts, established by the Zionist regime at the Mount Hermon summit. He claimed that the move is aimed “to ensure the security of Israel’s citizens.”
“I came here to ensure that the IDF is well-prepared in defence and offense for prolonged deployment at the Mount Hermon posts,” he haughtily said.
Katz said, the Israeli regime is determined to prevent Iran-linked forces and other groups not allied with Israel from gaining a foothold in southern Syria.
“We will not allow hostile forces to establish themselves in the buffer zone in southern Syria – from here to the Suwayda-Damascus axis – and we will not rely on others for our defense,” he arrogantly said.
At 2,814 metres, Mount Hermon’s summit is the highest point on the eastern Mediterranean coast, overlooking Israel, Syria, and Lebanon.
The Zionist Israeli regime had already occupied a lower part of the Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East war. It later annexed it, in a move not recognised by most of the international community.
In Dec, in the wake of the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government, Israel sent ground forces into the buffer zone, a demilitarised area monitored by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, which was established by the 1974 Agreement on Disengagement between Israel and Syria. Later, the Zionist Israel also seized Syrian army posts at the mountain’s peak.
Israel has bombed around 500 Syrian sites with military assets, including navy facilities and surface-to-air missile systems, claiming the strikes were aimed at preventing weapons from falling into the hands of rebel groups.– NNN-MA’AN
