US justifies Israel's capture of Syrian territory in Golan Heights Department of State says

Spokesman for the US Department of State Matthew Miller has stated that the US justified Israel's recent actions in capturing Syrian territory near the Golan Heights.

Miller made these remarks during a briefing, Caliber.Az reports.

“First of all, the Syrian army abandoned its positions in the area around the negotiated Israeli-Syrian buffer zone, which potentially creates a vacuum that could have been filled by terrorist organizations that would threaten the state of Israel and would threaten civilians inside Israel. Every country has the right to take action against terrorist organizations, and every country, I think, would be worried about a possible vacuum that could be filled by terrorist organizations on its border, especially in volatile times, as we obviously are in right now in Syria,” he said.

“The second thing that is important is that Israel has said that these actions are temporary to defend its borders. These are not permanent actions. And so ultimately, what we want to see is lasting stability between Israel and security – sorry, Israel and Syria, and that means we support all sides upholding the 1974 disengagement agreement,” he added.

Within hours of rebels capturing Syria's capital, Israel deployed troops across the border to seize military positions in southern Syria, marking the first such move since the official conclusion of the Yom Kippur War in 1974. Arab nations condemned Israel’s incursion, calling it an illegal occupation and warning that it could further destabilize Syria, where a coalition of rebel groups is attempting to restore order after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

The Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which led the surprise offensive, has not yet issued a public statement on the matter. Israeli officials defended the action, stating it was a limited operation aimed at preventing rebels or local militias from using abandoned Syrian military equipment to target Israeli territory from the Golan Heights, an area Israel has occupied since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. 

On December 9, additional Israeli troops were seen near a Druze village on the border, preparing to cross into Syria. “This is a temporary defensive position until a suitable arrangement is found,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in English in a video statement. In the Hebrew version of his statement, Netanyahu did not use the word “temporary.”

By Naila Huseynova