buffer zone, IDF advance, approach to Damascus: Politics: World: Lenta.ru

Military equipment Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was spotted approximately 20 kilometers from the Syrian capital Damascus city. According to Al MayadeenIsraeli tanks moved beyond the buffer zone along the border with Syria.

“Israeli tanks have advanced past the city of Quneitra and are now on the outskirts of Damascus,” the report said. It is indicated that IDF equipment was stationed near the southern village of Katana in the suburbs of the Syrian capital.

Subsequently, the IDF press office reportedthat data on the advance of Israeli troops to Damascus are unreliable.

Israel occupied a buffer zone on the border with Syria

December 8, the head of the Ministry of Defense of the Jewish State Israel Katz reportedthat IDF soldiers occupied a buffer zone located on the border with Syria.

According to the minister, Israeli tanks entered the zone in order to ensure the safety of residents of Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights. One of the main tasks of the military is to stabilize the situation in the region after the seizure of power in Syria by opposition forces, he noted.

During the night the Israeli army captured control of additional areas in the buffer zone.

President Iran Masoud Pezeshkianin turn, condemned Israeli army's invasion of the buffer zone on the border with Syria. He called on all countries in the Middle East to prevent further Israeli expansion in the region.

Israel moved beyond the Golan Heights for the first time in half a century

On December 9, Israel for the first time since the October War of 1973 came out into Syrian territory outside the Golan Heights. Israeli forces took control of the top of Mount Hermon on the Syrian side of the border, as well as several other locations considered important to stabilize control of the area.

The New York Times' interlocutors among Israeli officials spoke about the authorities' fears that the Syrian opposition could take control of military installations near the Golan Heights.

The intensifying political crisis in Syria occurred against the backdrop of an offensive by anti-government forces that began at the end of November. On the night of December 8, armed opposition forces occupied Homs city and entered Damascus. After this the President Bashar al-Assad left the capital.