A security source told Saudi Arabia's Al-Arabiya TV on Sunday that the IDF has taken control of the Jabal al-Sheikh site, located on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, following the withdrawal of the local army from the area. According to the report, this takeover gives the IDF control over additional sites along the ceasefire line with Syria.
This is a formative event that for the first time since the Six-Day War, IDF forces are beyond enemy lines on three borders – Gaza, southern Lebanon and now also in Syria.
The dramatic report comes after Prime Minister Netanyahu visited the Syrian border earlier today together with Defense Minister Israel Katz and addressed the latest developments in Syria: "This is a historic day in the history of the Middle East. The Assad regime is a central link in Iran's axis of evil – this regime has fallen. This is a direct result of the blows we have inflicted on Iran and Hezbollah, the main supporters of the Assad regime."
Netanyahu added that the new situation has "very important" opportunities as well as risks: "We are working first and foremost to defend our border. This area was controlled for nearly 50 years by a buffer zone agreed upon in 1974, the separation of forces agreement. This agreement collapsed, the Syrian soldiers abandoned their positions."
"Together with the Minister of Defense, and with the full backing of the Cabinet, I instructed the IDF yesterday to seize the buffer zone and the adjacent control positions. We will not allow any hostile force to establish itself on our border."
The prime minister emphasized the good neighborly relations between Israel and Syria: "The same good neighborliness that we maintained when we established a field hospital here that treated thousands of Syrians who were wounded and injured in the civil war. Hundreds of Syrian children were born here in Israel."
* Channel 14 contributed to this article.
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