Israel has expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights this week by seizing a UN-supervised demilitarized buffer zone, hours after the downfall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Assad fled Syria to Russia the place he was given asylum after anti-regime teams captured the capital Damascus on Sunday, placing an finish to the rule of the Baath Party, which had been in energy since 1963.
Shortly afterwards, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu introduced the collapse of a UN-monitored disengagement settlement, which established a buffer zone between Israel and Syria.
The Israeli military took management of the mountain summit of Mount Hermon on the Syrian facet of the border, and several other different areas.
The military additionally mounted dozens of airstrikes in opposition to army bases, air protection stations and intelligence headquarters in addition to long- and short-range missile depots, unconventional weapon stockpiles throughout Syria.
Israel claims that its army actions inside Syrian territory are defensive “to prevent any threat.”
What is Disengagement Agreement?
The Disengagement Agreement was signed on May 31, 1974 between Syria and Israel within the presence of representatives of the United Nations, the previous Soviet Union (Russia now) and the US.
The settlement stipulates Israel’s withdrawal from all the areas it had occupied through the 1973 warfare in addition to an space of about 25 sq. kilometers (9.6 sq. miles) that included Quneitra and different areas.
The settlement defines the present border between Israel and Syria together with the accompanying army preparations, creating two separation traces — Israeli (blue) and Syrian (pink) — with a buffer zone between them.
The settlement is monitored by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), as it’s tasked with sustaining the cease-fire between Israel and Syria following the 1973 Middle East War.
Since 1974, UNDOF has patrolled the buffer zone between the Israeli- and Syrian-controlled zones.
Israel occupied a lot of the Golan Heights through the 1967 Middle East warfare and later annexed the territory in a transfer by no means acknowledged by the worldwide group.
What is UNDOF?
According to the UNDOF web site, as of August 2024, its personnel quantity was 1,309 members, comprising 1,117 troopers, 59 officers, and 133 civilian officers.
The prime 10 contributing nations to the UNDOF pressure are: Nepal (451), Uruguay (211), India (201), Fiji (149), Kazakhstan (140), Ghana (5), Bhutan (4), the Czech Republic (4), Ireland (4), and Zambia (3).
What is the buffer zone?
According to the UNDOF web site, the buffer zone “extends over 75 kilometers in length and ranges in width from approximately 10 kilometers in the center to 200 meters in the far south.”
The web site additionally explains that on both facet of the buffer zone, there are boundary areas divided into three zones: an space from 0 to 10 kilometers from the buffer zone, an space from 10 to twenty kilometers, and an space from 20 to 25 kilometers from the buffer zone.
The UNDOF forces are assigned with the duty of inspections and monitoring the buffer zone to make sure compliance with the agreed-upon restrictions on weapons and forces.
Does buffer zone embody Syrian villages?
There are a number of Syrian villages within the buffer zone space between Israel and Syria, in accordance with the UNDOF web site.
On Sunday, the Israeli military warned residents of 5 villages in southern Syria near the Israeli border to stay of their properties resulting from their army actions within the space.
The listing of villages embody Ofaniya, Quneitra, al-Hamidiyah, Samdaniya al-Gharbiyya and al-Qahtaniyah.
Who are Golan Heights residents?
On June 5, 1967, Israel occupied the Syrian Golan Heights and later annexed it to Israel’s sovereignty, in a transfer by no means acknowledged by the worldwide group.
In December 1981, the Israeli Knesset (parliament) handed laws generally known as the Golan Heights Law that enables the imposition of Israeli legal guidelines, jurisdiction and administration to the occupied territory.
There are presently some 45 Israeli settlements within the Golan Heights constructed on the ruins of Arab Syrian villages destroyed by Israel.
According to the Syrian Foreign Ministry, the remaining space underneath the Israeli occupation is estimated at 1,150 sq. kilometers and consists of 137 villages and 112 farms.
In March 25, 2019, then-US President Donald Trump signed a choice to acknowledge Israeli sovereignty over Syria’s occupied Golan Heights.
The inhabitants of the occupied Golan Heights are estimated at round 40,000 folks, most of them are from the Arab Druze group whereas the remaining are Israeli settlers.
What’s significance of Golan Heights?
The Golan Heights is of strategic significance to Israel resulting from its geographic location along with the Tiberias Lake, which is taken into account a foremost water supply to Israel, in accordance with the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
An Israeli think-tank additionally refers back to the army defensive privileges and benefits the Golan Heights provide to Israel because it additionally enhances Israel’s army deterrence pressure within the area.
In a report titled “Israel’s Presence on the Golan Heights: A Strategic Necessity”, the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security stated “Mount Hermon marks the northern end of the Heights. The mountain provides excellent means to observe the entire region, up to Damascus, only some 60 kilometers away to the east, and over to the Haifa Bay on the Mediterranean to the west.”
“Militarily, withdrawal from the Golan Heights would be a huge mistake. Control of this area gives Israel several important advantages,” the Israeli think-tank stated.
Source: www.anews.com.tr