In a historic development, Israeli military officers have held their first open meetings with leaders of Syrian villages captured in the Golan Heights following the collapse of Bashar Assad’s regime last week.
These meetings, held in the homes of village elders, aimed to reassure residents that their daily lives would remain undisturbed under IDF control.
Capt. Omer, a company commander from the 77th Battalion of the 7th Armored Brigade, led the IDF’s deepest advance into Syria to date, reaching the village of Umm Batnah, located approximately 12 kilometers (8 miles) from the Israeli border.
“I asked the village elder to collect weapons from residents after they retrieved rifles from abandoned Syrian military outposts,” Capt. Omer explained. The IDF reported full compliance, with no unusual incidents so far.
The IDF is now operating in seven Syrian villages, some beyond Quneitra, and has reached abandoned Assad regime military outposts near the town of Khan Arnabah. The military plans to remain in the area until the territory can be transferred to a "stable and recognized state entity" to prevent terrorist groups from gaining control.
Meanwhile, calls for Israeli annexation are growing among Druze residents in the region. In videos circulated online, Druze villagers in Hader, near the Israeli border, were heard calling on Israel to annex their community. “What is our fate?” one speaker asked, to which the crowd responded, “Israel.”
The speaker continued, “If we must choose, we choose the lesser evil. We want to be annexed to the Israeli Golan to preserve our dignity. This applies to all villages in the area because the fate of Hader is the fate of the entire region. We ask to join our people in the Golan and live in freedom and dignity.”
* Ynet contributed to this article.
