Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Thursday that Israeli forces will remain in a Syrian buffer zone adjacent to the Golan Heights until a force on the Syrian side can guarantee security.
The Israeli troops advanced from their side of the Golan Heights into the buffer zone and onto the Syrian side after rebels ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“Israel will not permit jihadi groups to fill that vacuum and threaten Israeli communities on the Golan Heights with October 7th style attacks,” Netanyahu’s office said.
The Israeli move has been criticized by the United Nations as a violation of a 1974 agreement that defines lines separating Israeli and Syrian forces with a U.N.-monitored buffer area in between.
France, Iran, Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have also criticized the Israeli move, and the United States has said it is important for the deployment to be temporary.
The main commander of the Syrian fighters who deposed Assad said Wednesday that anyone involved in the torture and killing of people Assad detained during his iron-fisted rule would be hunted down, with pardons out of the question.
“We will pursue them in Syria, and we ask countries to hand over those who fled so we can achieve justice,” Abu Mohammed al-Golani said in a statement published on the Syrian state TV’s Telegram channel.
Golani’s vow to extract revenge against Assad’s lieutenants of torture and death came as the world is watching to see if Syria’s new rulers can stabilize the country after civil war fought for nearly 14 years along sectarian and ethnic lines has left it in shambles.
Mohammed al-Bashir, the man installed by Jolani’s fighters to lead an interim administration through March 1, pleaded with millions of refugees to return home, create unity and provide basic services. But rebuilding is a daunting proposition with little funding on hand.
“In the coffers, there are only Syrian pounds worth little or nothing. One U.S. dollar buys 35,000 of our coins,” Bashir told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
“We have no foreign currency, and as for loans and bonds, we are still collecting data. So yes, financially we are very bad,” said Bashir, who previously ran a small rebel-led administration in a pocket of northwestern Syria.
But Bashir said the Islamist-led alliance that ousted Assad will guarantee the rights of all religious groups.
“Precisely because we are Islamic, we will guarantee the rights of all people and all sects in Syria,” Bashir said.
More than 500,000 people were killed in the war, with more than half the population forced to flee their homes. About 6 million Syrians sought refuge abroad.
Bashir pleaded with those who fled the violence to return home. In his interview with Corriere della Sera, he said, “Syria is now a free country that has earned its pride and dignity. Come back.”
Foreign officials are warily engaging with the former rebels, part of the former al-Qaida affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which remains designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and others.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the new government must “uphold clear commitments to fully respect the rights of minorities, facilitate the flow of humanitarian assistance to all in need, prevent Syria from being used as a base for terrorism or posing a threat to its neighbors.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, “It’s our duty to do everything to support different Syrian leaders in order to make sure that they come together, they are able to guarantee a smooth transition.”
But the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the security situation in Syria remains volatile. The agency said it has found more than 50 minefields over the past 10 days, which is curtailing the movement of civilians and impeding the delivery of goods and services.
Some information for this report was provided by from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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