Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has responded to the fall of Bashar al-Assad and the Assad regime in Syria, calling it a historic day in the history of the Middle East. He ordered the Israeli military to seize the buffer zone that separates the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and southern Syria.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967. The country created a 155-square mile buffer zone in 1974, in an agreement between Israel and Syria. U.N. peacekeepers currently monitor the buffer zone.
Over the weekend of Dec. 7, Israel announced the agreement had collapsed and that Syrian soldiers had abandoned their posts along the border.
“We will not allow any hostile force to establish itself on our border,” Netanyahu said.
Israel has deployed both ground and air troops to the area.
The prime minister vowed to defend villages in northern Israel. At the same time, he urged residents in southern Syria to stay home for their own safety.
Israel’s Arabic-language military spokesman moved to reassure Syrians by posting on social media that Israel intends no harm.
Netanyahu also addressed what he believes was Israel’s role in the fall of the Assad regime after 50 years. He said it was the direct result of Israel’s recent military campaign against Syrian allies, Iran and Hezbollah.