The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Tuesday denied reports on social media that its tanks were advancing toward Damascus, the capital of Syria, and said its forces remained within the demilitarized zone in the south of the country where they were deployed early Sunday morning in response to alleged insurgent attacks.
“The reports circulating in the media about the alleged advance of Israeli tanks towards Damascus are false. IDF troops are stationed inside the buffer zone (demilitarized zone), and in defensive positions near the border to protect the Israeli border,” confirmed the Arabic-speaking military spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee.
According to Syrian state television, now controlled by the opposition, the Israel Defense Forces “are in their previous positions from the northern part of Quneitra and Hamidiya, without any new movement.”
Both the IDF and Syrian television have thus denied reports by the Lebanese media outlet Al Mayadeen, linked to the Shiite terrorist group Hezbollah, which reported this morning that Israeli tanks had crossed the borders of the Golan Heights in southern Syria and had entered the countryside in the suburbs of Damascus.
Defense Minister Israel Katz on Monday ordered the Israel Defense Forces to create a “security zone” free of heavy weapons in southern Syria beyond the demilitarized zone between the two countries, while Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the troop presence in southern Lebanon was “temporary and limited.”
Katz also called on the forces to ensure full control of the demilitarized zone in the Golan Heights, where the army has been deployed since Sunday following the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime and the capture of Damascus by Syrian Islamist insurgents.
Israel, which has made it clear that it has no intention of interfering in the internal affairs of its neighbouring country, has asked residents of five Syrian towns located in the demilitarised zone to remain in their homes.
Katz said Israeli forces are also ordered to destroy strategic weapons, such as different types of missiles and rockets and anti-aircraft defenses, so that they do not fall into the hands of groups that might be hostile toward Israel.
On Sunday, insurgents declared Damascus “free” and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow with his family as part of an insurgent offensive that began on November 27 and was led by the Levant Liberation Organization (Hayat Tahrir al Sham or HTS in Arabic), heir to the former Syrian affiliate of Al Qaeda.
Agencies contributed to this Aurora article