Israel Defence Forces units will remain on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, located on the Syria-Lebanon border, throughout the winter, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Friday.
“Due to what is happening in Syria, there is a huge security importance to our holding of the Hermon peak,” Katz said in a statement.
Everything possible must be done to ensure that the Israeli army is trained in the area and to allow the troops to remain in the harsh weather conditions, he added.
The decision to extend the army’s stay in the occupied zone came after Katz, Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi and other military officials met late Thursday to assess the situation in Syria.
Israeli troops entered 2-10 kilometres deep into the demilitarised buffer zone along the border with Syria, an Israeli source who preferred to remain unnamed told Anadolu Agency. However, he declined to name the Syrian villages in the buffer zone where Israeli troops are stationed for “security reasons.”
The Israel Defence Forces seized control of additional areas in the buffer zone on the border with Syria on the night of December 9.
The minister said he ordered the IDF to “act immediately in Syria” to establish a security zone free of heavy strategic weapons and terrorist infrastructure that could threaten the Israeli state.
Katz added that he ordered to no longer allow the smuggling of weapons from Iran to Lebanon through Syria at border crossings’ and to take measures to eliminate heavy strategic weapons on Syrian territory, including, ground-based missiles – air defence systems, air defence systems, surface-to-surface missiles, cruise missiles and long-range missiles.
