Israel seizes a buffer zone in the Golan Heights: AP Explains

(9 Dec 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tel Aviv - 9 December 2024
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1. SOUNDBITE (English) Tia Goldenberg, The Associated Press:
"With the fall of Bashar Assad in Syria, Israel is seeing both opportunity and peril. After fighting wars on multiple fronts for months, Israel is concerned that the unrest in Syria could spill over into its borders. And over the weekend, it sent air and ground troops to seize a demilitarised buffer zone in Syria along the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. It says that move is temporary and meant to stabilise the border. With Bashar Assad gone there are questions over what will be Syria's role in the Middle East. It long served as a conduit for Iranian weapons to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and Israel hopes that that link can now be broken. With Syria in disarray, Israel has been striking targets in the country, including chemical weapons and long-range missiles. It says that is meant to prevent the weapons from falling into the hands of militants. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a visit to the Golan Heights called Assad's demise a historic day. But he said that Israel would do what it takes to defend itself in the face of any threats that emerge in the aftermath."
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STORYLINE:
Israeli strikes hit suspected chemical and long-range weapons sites in Syria on Monday to keep them from rebels who seized Damascus, officials said.

Israelis welcomed the fall of Assad, who was a key ally of Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, while expressing concern over what comes next.

Israel says its forces temporarily seized a buffer zone inside Syria dating back to a 1974 agreement after Syrian troops withdrew in the chaos.

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told reporters on Monday that Israel had "attacked strategic weapons systems, like, for example, remaining chemical weapons, or long-range missiles and rockets, in order that they will not fall in the hands of extremists.”

Saar did not provide details about when or where the strikes took place.

An AP journalist in Damascus reported airstrikes in the area of the Mezzeh military airport, southwest of the capital, on Sunday.

The airport has previously been targeted in Israeli airstrikes. Strikes were also heard in the capital on Monday.

Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria in recent years, targeting what it says are military sites related to Iran and Hezbollah.

Israeli officials rarely comment on individual strikes.

Syria agreed to give up its chemical weapons stockpile in 2013, after the government was accused of launching an attack near Damascus that killed hundreds of people.

But it is widely believed to have kept some of the weapons and was accused of using them again in subsequent years.

Hamas has congratulated the Syrian people after the toppling of President Bashar Assad's regime.

Hamas’ ties with Assad frayed at the start of the Syrian uprising when the militant group sided with the rebels, leading Syria to kick out top Hamas leaders who had been based there.

But they later mended ties in an effort facilitated by Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Hamas and Hezbollah are part of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance, an alliance of militant groups across the region that are opposed to Israel.

Assad’s government was also part of that alliance and played a key role as a conduit between Iran and Hezbollah.

It provided crucial support to Assad throughout the Syrian civil war but seemed to have abandoned him as the rebels made a lightning advance across the country.



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