Israel wasted no time after Bashar al-Assad’s fall to bomb all of the Syrian army property it needed to maintain out of the rebels’ fingers – hanging almost 500 targets, destroying the navy, and taking out, it claims, 90% of Syria’s recognized surface-to-air missiles.
However it’s Israel’s seize of Syria’s highest peak, the Mount Hermon summit, which will show among the many most lasting prizes – although officers have insisted that its occupation is momentary.
“That is the best place within the area, wanting upon Lebanon, upon Syria, Israel,” mentioned Efraim Inbar, director of the Jerusalem Institute for Technique and Safety (JISS). “It’s strategically extraordinarily essential. There isn’t a substitute for mountains.”
Israeli armored autos on the demilitarized buffer zone within the Golan Heights. – Matias Delacroix/AP
The summit of Mount Hermon lies in Syria, in a buffer zone that separated Israeli and Syrian forces for 50 years till final weekend, when Israeli troops took management of it. Till Sunday, the summit was demilitarized and patrolled by UN peacekeepers – their highest everlasting place on the earth.
Israel’s protection minister, Israel Katz, on Friday ordered the army to organize for the tough circumstances of winter deployment. “Because of developments in Syria, it’s of immense safety significance to keep up our management over the summit of Mount Hermon,” he mentioned in a press release.
The Israel Protection Forces (IDF) has superior past the summit, so far as Beqaasem, about 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) from the Syrian capital, in keeping with Voice of the Capital, a Syrian activist group. CNN couldn’t independently affirm that declare. An Israeli army spokesperson this week denied that forces have been “advancing towards” Damascus.
Israeli artillery on Mount Hermon in 1974. – Alain Dejean/Sygma/Getty Pictures
Israel captured the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau in southwestern Syria that abuts Mount Hermon, within the 1967 warfare and has occupied it since. Syria tried to retake the territory in a shock assault in 1973, however failed, and Israel annexed it in 1981. The occupation is prohibited underneath worldwide regulation, however america acknowledged Israel’s declare on the Golan through the Trump administration.
Israel has for many years held some decrease slopes of Mount Hermon, and even operates a ski resort there, however the peak remained in Syria correct.
“Now we have no intention to intervene in Syria’s inside affairs,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned in a video days after Israel bombed a whole bunch of Syrian targets and seized the demilitarized buffer zone. “However we definitely intend to do the whole lot essential to handle our safety.”
Mount Hermon’s summit is an incredible asset underneath Israel’s management. At 9,232 ft (2,814 meters), it’s larger than any level in Syria or Israel, and second to just one peak in Lebanon.
“Folks generally say within the age of missiles, land shouldn’t be essential – it’s merely unfaithful,” Inbar mentioned.
In a tutorial paper revealed in 2011, he wrote of the numerous benefits introduced by Mount Hermon.
“It permits the usage of digital surveillance deep into Syrian territory, giving Israel early-warning capability in case of an impending assault,” he wrote. Superior technological options like airborne surveillance, he argued, was merely not comparable. “In distinction to an set up on a mountain, these can not carry heavy gear akin to large antennas, and they are often shot down by anti-air missiles.”
Israeli army forces on Mount Hermon on Sunday. – Social Media
The height is simply over 35 kilometers (about 22 miles) from Damascus, which implies that management of its Syrian foothills – additionally now in IDF fingers – put the Syrian capital inside vary for artillery cannons.
The Israeli prime minister has mentioned his “hand is prolonged” to the brand new authorities in Syria. However within the post-October 7 world, he and different nationwide safety heavyweights have made clear they aren’t going to take any possibilities.
“Principally, it’s a consolation for us,” retired Brigadier Normal Israel Ziv mentioned of Israel’s operations in Syria. “Now we have discovered what occurred in different nations when you could have a terror group that captures army gear.”
Netanyahu has additionally insisted that the occupation is momentary. “Israel is not going to allow jihadi teams to fill that vacuum and threaten Israeli communities on the Golan Heights with October 7 fashion assaults,” he mentioned. His standards for withdrawing, he mentioned, was a Syrian pressure “that’s dedicated to the 1974 settlement might be established and safety on our border might be assured.”
It’s unclear when which may be achieved.
Whether or not the army withdraws “is a political determination,” Inbar mentioned. “The army would love to remain there.”
Mike Schwartz and Tim Lister contributed to this report.
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