Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has instructed the military to prepare to remain in control of Mount Hermon, on Syrian territory Israel seized this week, according to a defense ministry spokesman.
Israeli troops moved to the strategic height in the aftermath of the ousting of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in what the Israeli government described as a temporary security move.
Katz instructed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to prepare for winter deployment at the summit, saying: “Due to developments in Syria, it is of immense security importance to maintain our control over the summit of Mount Hermon.”
“Due to the harsh weather conditions, it is necessary to set up appropriate facilities and make special preparations for the soldiers’ stay at the summit of Mount Hermon,” the IDF spokesman said.
On Friday, Katz posted on X a photograph of himself and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the occupied Golan Heights, with the caption: “Overlooking the Syrian peak of Mount Hermon, which returned to Israeli control after 51 years.”
He added: “An exciting historical moment.”
Key context: Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 war. The territory is considered occupied Syrian land under international law.
Earlier this week, the IDF said that “a brigade-level operation in the Syrian Hermon region” within the buffer zone was underway.
On Sunday, Netanyahu ordered the IDF to seize the buffer zone between Israel and the rest of Syria and said on Tuesday that the military should also control “positions close to it. This includes the summit of Mt. Hermon.”
The Israeli military’s move into the buffer zone, which was established after the 1973 Middle East war, has been condemned by Egypt and other Arab nations.
