TEHRAN, Dec 9: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has strongly criticized the Israeli military’s presence in Syria, particularly following Bashar Assad’s exit as the leader of the Syrian government. Pezeshkian urged Middle Eastern nations to remain vigilant regarding Israel’s actions affecting the region, as stated by his office.
According to Israeli state broadcaster Kan, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) occupied a Syrian outpost on Mount Hermon after Syrian troops vacated their positions in the buffer zone. IDF spokesperson Avichai Edri warned residents of five border towns in southern Syria to stay indoors for their safety.
Pezeshkian condemned the “Zionist regime’s” infringement on Syrian sovereignty and called on all Syrian factions and neighboring countries to be alert to Israel’s potential exploitation of the situation to pursue its expansionist and unlawful policies.
Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that the disengagement agreement with Syria regarding the Golan Heights, established shortly after the 1973 Yom Kippur War, was no longer valid due to the Syrian military’s retreat. Netanyahu affirmed that, with the support of the defense minister and the government, he had instructed the Israeli military to secure the demarcation zone and surrounding areas.
Israel has been reinforcing its defenses on the Golan Heights amid the decline of President Bashar Assad’s regime and the takeover of much of the country by armed opposition groups.
Notably, Syrian armed factions captured the capital, Damascus, on Sunday. Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali announced that he and 18 fellow ministers chose to remain in the capital while reaching out to the leaders of the militant groups that entered the city. The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that President Assad had resigned and left Syria after discussions with parties involved in the conflict.
A Kremlin source reported that Assad and his family had arrived in Moscow on December 8, with Russia granting them asylum on humanitarian grounds. Moreover, Russian officials have been in contact with the armed Syrian opposition leaders, who have assured the safety of Russian military bases and diplomatic missions in Syria.
The Golan Heights was part of Syria until its occupation by Israeli forces during the Six-Day War in 1967. After the Yom Kippur War in 1973, a ceasefire agreement and a separation of forces arrangement were established, leading to the deployment of UN peacekeeping forces in the region in 1974. (UNI)
