Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Thursday that Israeli forces will remain in a Syrian buffer zone adjacent to the Golan Heights until a force on the Syrian side can guarantee security.
The Israeli troops advanced from their side of the Golan Heights into the buffer zone and onto the Syrian side after rebels ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“Israel will not permit jihadi groups to fill that vacuum and threaten Israeli communities on the Golan Heights with October 7th-style attacks,” Netanyahu’s office said.
The Israeli move has been criticized by the United Nations as a violation of a 1974 agreement that defines lines separating Israeli and Syrian forces with a U.N.-monitored buffer area in between.
France, Iran, Russia, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia have also criticized the Israeli move, and the United States has said it is important for the deployment to be temporary.
The main commander of the Syrian fighters who deposed Assad said Wednesday that anyone involved in the torture and killing of people Assad detained during his iron-fisted rule would be hunted down, with pardons out of the question.
“We will pursue them in Syria, and we ask countries to hand over those who fled so we can achieve justice,” Abu Mohammed al-Golani said in a statement published on the Syrian state TV’s Telegram channel.
