Israel will not allow Syrian forces to operate in southern Damascus: Netanyahu
Last Updated on February 25, 2025 6:27 am
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that Tel Aviv will not allow the country’s new government to operate south of the Syrian capital, Damascus.
Netanyahu made the remarks while attending a military event in Israel on Sunday (February 23), Al Jazeera reported.
At the event, Benjamin Netanyahu demanded the complete “demilitarization” of the southern Syrian provinces of Quneitra, Daraa and Suwayda from the new Syrian government’s troops.
Netanyahu, referring to the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, said, “We will not allow the HTS organization or the forces of the new Syrian army to enter south of Damascus.”
Incidentally, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham led the operation to overthrow Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, who has been in power for two decades, last December.
The Israeli prime minister also said that Israel will not accept any threat to Syria’s Druze community. The Druze people live in the Golan Heights, an illegally occupied Syrian territory by Israel, and other parts of southwestern Syria.
Taking advantage of the fall of al-Assad, Israel has expanded a buffer zone between the occupied Golan Heights and southern Syria, violating a 1974 UN-brokered agreement.
Israel controls about two-thirds of the Golan Heights. The UN-administered buffer zone covers an area of 400 square kilometers (154 sq mi). The rest is under Syrian control.
In 1974, Israel and Syria signed a ceasefire agreement that declared the Golan Heights a demilitarized buffer zone.