Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced on March 8 that it had seized weapons during several “targeted raids” in southern Syria.
The raids took place over the past week, the military said in a statement, adding that the seized weapons included rifles, ammunition, rockets, and other military gear.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported multiple Israeli incursions into southern Syria between March 3 and 6. Israeli troops collected weapons from the locals, inspected their homes and set up checkpoints during the incursions, according to the London-based monitoring group.
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- Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
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- Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
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- Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
Israeli troops invaded the buffer zone adjacent to the occupied Golan Heights in the southern Syrian governorate of al-Qunitra just hours after the fall of the Assad regime on December 8. The IDF also launched hundreds of strikes destroying much of the country’s military capabilities, including warships, warplanes, ballistic missiles and air defense systems.
The IDF has described its presence in southern Syria’s buffer zone as a temporary and defensive measure. However, Defense Minister Israel Katz has said that troops will remain deployed to nine army posts in the area, including one atop the strategic Mount Hermon, “indefinitely.”
Last month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that southern Syria must be completely demilitarized, warning that Israel would not accept the presence of the forces of the new Syrian Islamists government near its territory. The primer also warned the government against attacking the Druze, vowing to defend the minority.
The Syrian government has so far refrained from challenging Israel in any way. This led to criticism, especially from the more radical elements that played in the November-December offensive which saw the collapse of the regime of former president Bashar al-Assad. Repeated Israeli attacks on Syria could eventually lead to cracks within the governing body in Syria.
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