Amid concern and joy, Netanyahu orders army to invade Syrian buffer zone

Amid concern and  joy, Netanyahu orders  army to  invade Syrian buffer  zone
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu  said Sunday that the  fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria was a "direct result" of Israel's military campaign against Iran and its  Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah.
"This is a historic day in the history of the Middle East," he  said.
But in a sign of the potential danger Israel feels from  the unknown  leaders in Damascus, Netanyahu said he had ordered the  army to seize the buffer zone that separates the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from the rest of  Syria.
"Together with the  defense minister and with  the full  support of the  cabinet, yesterday I  ordered the  Israeli army to take control of the buffer zone and the  nearby commanding positions," he said  during his visit to the Golan Heights.  "We will not allow any hostile force to  settle on our  border."
This is the first time Israeli troops  will be stationed in the buffer zone since  the 1974 agreement establishing the  Line of  Control between Israel and Syria,  although they have  previously entered  no-man's land for brief  periods in the  past. The buffer zone has been  monitored by  UN peacekeepers since 1974. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and annexed it in  1981.
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Israeli leaders are watching events across the border in Syria with a  mixture of  concern and  joy, after 50 years of  detention were  overturned in a matter of  hours.
"We don't know much," said Boaz Shapira, a researcher  at the Alma Foundation, a think tank dedicated to issues in northern Israel. "The situation we were used to in Syria in the past  — 50 years  under the Assad regime  — has  completely changed."
Bashar al-Assad was hardly an ally, but there was an understanding that allowed the  two countries to coexist.  Although Israel  has sometimes cared for the victims of  the Syrian civil war, it  has maintained official neutrality in the conflict. The Israeli military has also targeted  the supply lines of Iran and its proxy Hezbollah in Syria  for years - including the killing  of Iranian military commanders  at the Iranian consulate in  Damascus in April  - but  has avoided targeting the Assad regime  itself.
The rapid capture of Damascus  by the rebels means Israeli leaders will have to  weigh the implications for their own  security.
Iran has now lost one of its most important  strongholds in the region.  This will be cause for celebration  for Israel, which has been fighting Iranian-backed forces in Gaza (Hamas) and Lebanon (Hezbollah) since last  October. Netanyahu, who  said the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was a step  toward changing "the balance of power in the region for years to come,"  sees this as  a step forward in that  goal.
Mordechai Kedar, who specialized in  Syrian affairs during a 25-year career in Israeli military intelligence, said the events in Syria were a domino effect  of Hamas's attack on  Israel on Oct. 7. "It's not  just Israel  — it's the  entire Middle East  that's going to celebrate," he told  CNN.
A man waves a Syrian opposition flag in a Druze village in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Dec. 8, 2024, as people celebrate the fall of the Assad regime. A person  waves a Syrian opposition flag in a Druze village in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, December 8, 2024, as  people celebrate the fall of the  Assad regime. Stoyan Nenov/Reuters
The  fall of the Assad regime is a  "huge blow" to Iran, said Amos Yadlin, a former general in the Israel Defense  Forces who also served as  head of the  military intelligence directorate. .
"The rebels  who took down  the posters of (Iranian commander  Qassem) Soleimani and Nasrallah from the Iranian embassy in Damascus illustrate the severity of the  strike on the  axis," he said.  "The reconstruction of Hezbollah seems even more difficult with the loss of Syria, which was a logistical  backwater for  the weapons  of Assad,  Iran and  Russia."
On the other hand, no one  really knows  - including Israel  - who  are the rebels who now control  Syria and how they will  exercise their  power.
The offensive was led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which was  previously an  affiliate of al-Qaeda. The US  government has  repeatedly offered a $10 million  reward for the  capture of its leader, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, whose real name is Ahmed  al-Sharaa. Kedar said that despite  his radical roots, the  early signs were positive. "So far, they are  quite rational," he said. "For example, they  allow the government to run the country."
Jolani called on rebel forces to leave state institutions  intact. "All military forces in the city of  Damascus are strictly  prohibited from approaching public institutions, which will remain under the supervision of the former Prime Minister until  his official handover, and  firing bullets into the  air is prohibited," he wrote on  Telegram. .
"Here, they are learning from the mistakes of the  Americans in Iraq. They don't want to destroy the country. They want the system to work  — certainly under different rules and  with different  management. That's a very rational way to run the  country."
Yadlin said Jolani  "had shown great political sophistication and  had conquered Syria almost without a fight."Not a valid attachment ID.
In this  photo, anti-government forces  hold military vehicles as they drive through Hama  province, December 7, 2024.  Syria's government said on December  7 that it was  creating a ring of steel around Damascus, state media reported, as  advanced rebels said they were  advancing toward the city. 
'This is  all shocking': Syrian expert explains what surprised  him about  rebel advance  in Damascus
'In the short term, the rebels  pose no threat to  Israel,' he said.  "When it comes to  implementing its power in Syria,  it will not  engage alongside the most powerful military force in the region. Israel  must shape the rules of the game against Syria in the same aggressive manner  as it did in  Lebanon."
This view is not universal. Israel's Minister of Diaspora and Combating  Anti-Semitism, Amichai  Chiklisaid, said in a statement that "the  fact is that most of Syria is now under the control of al-Qaeda and  Daesh affiliates." He called  on the Israeli military to establish full control  of the buffer zone that has  existed since 1974 between  the territories controlled by Israel and  Syria.
Indeed, Israel's top priority will be securing its border with Syria. The  Israeli military said the deployment of troops  to the Golan  Heights buffer zone was  done "to ensure the  security of the communities of the Golan Heights and the citizens of  Israel."
Shapira said he  suspected Israel  wanted to provoke the new  rulers in Damascus by  intervening in the Syrian Golan.  "Having more territory means we have to deal with other players who  may not be so  happy," he  added. "There are dozens of different militias," Shapira said.  "This will be  a real challenge for Israel."
The Israeli military, in its statement  on the  Golan Heights operations, said: "The State of Israel does not  intervene in the  internal conflict  in Syria."


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