In a warning to Syrian President Bashar Assad, a defense official on Wednesday told local television that Israel considers Syrian regime forces that enter the demilitarized buffer zone between the two countries to be a legitimate target.
The Israeli official told Channel 10 the military has deployed units from the Combat Intelligence Corps near the border to track Syrian forces returning to the area as part of the regime offensive to retake rebel-held territory in southern Syria.
The official stressed that Israel would strictly abide by the 1974 ceasefire agreement with Syria.
“The agreement is the basis for any future security reality after Assad returns to [Israel’s] northern border,” he said. “Any Syrian troops who break it will be attacked.”
The Disengagement of Forces agreement between the two countries says Syria may have no more than 75 tanks and 6,000 soldiers within 10 kilometers of the United Nations buffer zone.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also called for upholding the 1974 UN ceasefire agreement, which established the buffer zones between the two countries.
The United Nations Disengagement Observation Force (UNDOF), responsible for supervising the ceasefire between Israel and Syria, asked the two countries several months ago for permission to install warning systems — like ground radar to warn of unauthorized infiltrators and equipment to check for explosive devices — in the zone, Channel 10 news reported on Wednesday.
According to the 1974 deal, both Israel and Syria must approve any new equipment brought into the zone by the UN.
Senior UN officials and Israeli security officials told Channel 10 that Jerusalem had agreed to the request but Damascus rejected it.
According to the report, Israel believes the Syrians were reluctant to approve the request over fears the UN supervisors will use radar to track the activities of the Syrian army or other Assad-aligned forces when they regain control of the border area.
During the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011, most of the UN forces have withdrawn from the buffer zone out of concern for their safety. The UN sought the new equipment so that it can ensure the security of its troops and allow them to ultimately return to the area, an outcome the TV report said Israel favors and the Syrians oppose.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Walla news site reported that Israel was quietly working with the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force in order to set up “safe zones” near the border where Syrian civilians can be spared the Assad regime’s onslaught.
On Wednesday, IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot and other top military officers traveled to the Israel-Syria border to hear updated assessments from soldiers in the field about the battle raging next door between Assad’s forces and rebel groups in the Daraa province, the army said.
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