With speculation mounting as to the new Syrian government's next moves, the IDF Chief of Staff released a statement today (Saturday) reiterating Israel's policy that "we are not intervening in what is happening in Syria - we are here to prevent terrorist parties from settling in here."
Halevi was referring to the IDF's operations on Syrian territory itself - including massive air raids on any and all strategic weapons belonging to the now defunct Assad regime to prevent it from falling into unfriendly hands.
The IDF is also busy at work destroying any and all weapons on the Syrian side of the border, clearing out villages and outposts of weapons and anything else that might be used by terrorist forces - either aligned with the new regime or at least not controlled by it.
However, despite a number of local Druze leaders saying that they want to live under Israeli rule, Israel - from the IDF Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Netanyahu - have insisted that Israeli ground forces are only involved in a "temporary" capacity across the border, and that as soon as an "effective" border protection force can be found to replace them, the IDF will withdraw to the 1974 separation of forces line.
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