Re: [Salon] Netanyahu Takes Credit for Assad’s Overthrow, Israel Seizes Golan Heights ‘Buffer Zone’

Kudos to Antiwar.com for their steady reporting on Syria today.

My one request would be that the DMZ between the Israeli-occupied parts of Syrian Golan and the rest of Golan not generally be described as a "buffer zone". That's the way Netanyahu refers to it, but it is a DMZ duly designated and monitored by authoritative UNSC resolutions and procedures. This fact is important: It underlines that Netanyahu has absolutely no right to send his forces into the zone in question (and of course not into the "dominant positions near to it.") Through his actions and declarations he is openly defying the UNSC and UNDOF in Syria, just as he earlier openly defied the UNSC and UNIFIL in Lebanon with the full involvement of the US.

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Helena Cobban

She/her/they | Honoring the lives & legacies of the Piscataways in whose lands I live

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On Sun, Dec 8, 2024 at 12:46 PM Eric Garris via Salon <salon@listserve.com> wrote:

https://news.antiwar.com/2024/12/08/netanyahu-takes-credit-for-assads-overthrow-israel-seizes-golan-heights-buffer-zone/

Netanyahu Takes Credit for Assad’s Overthrow, Israel Seizes Golan Heights ‘Buffer Zone’
Israel has taken control of a strip of land in Syria that separated the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from the rest of Syria
by Dave DeCamp

Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday celebrated the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad by al-Qaeda-linked militants and confirmed that Israel has seized a buffer zone inside Syria that separates the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from the rest of Syria’s territory.
“This is a historic day in the history of the Middle East,” Netanyahu said during a visit to the Golan Heights. “The Assad regime is a central link in Iran’s axis of evil — this regime has fallen.”
Netanyahu credited Israel with setting off the process that led to the downfall of Assad. In the months leading up to the offensive launched by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Israel was waging a war against Hezbollah and ramped up airstrikes in Syria.
“This is a direct result of the blows we have inflicted on Iran and Hezbollah, the main supporters of the Assad regime,” Netanyahu said. “This has created a chain reaction throughout the Middle East of all those who want to be free from this oppressive and tyrannical regime.”
Map showing the buffer zone between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and the rest of Syria
The Israeli leader also said he directed the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to capture the buffer zone in Syria. “Together with the Defense Minister, and with full backing from the Cabinet, I directed the IDF yesterday to take control of the buffer zone and the dominant positions near it,” he said. “We will not allow any hostile force to establish itself on our border.”
The buffer zone Israel has seized has been patrolled by a UN peacekeeping force, known as UNDOF, since 1974. Netanyahu declared that the agreement establishing the buffer zone and UNDOF has now “collapsed.”
There are signs that Israel had been planning to make a move on the buffer zone before the Assad government collapsed. The Associated Press reported that Israel began construction along the buffer zone, citing satellite images. After the report, UNDOF warned that Israel was committing “severe” violations of the deal with Syria that established the buffer zone.

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