TEL AVIV: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israeli forces have seized a buffer zone in the Golan Heights established by a 1974 ceasefire agreement with Syria. He spoke from an overlook near the border between Syria and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, after Syrian rebels tore through the country and dramatically ended Assad’s rule on Sunday morning.
Netanyahu said the 50-year-old agreement had collapsed and that Syrian troops had abandoned their positions, necessitating the Israeli takeover as a “temporary defensive position.”
Israel has watched the rapid overthrow of the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with a mixture of hope and concern as officials weigh the consequences of one of the most significant strategic shifts in West Asia in years.
Netanyahu hailed the ousting of Assad as an “historic day” that followed the blows delivered by Israel against Assad’s supporters Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon that had created a chain reaction throughout the region.