Visiting Israeli troops in the Syrian Golan Heights Saturday IDF Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi declared:
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“We are not interfering with what’s happening in Syria” “There was an enemy country here" "Its army collapsed”
Halevi said in a video released by the IDF
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“There is a threat that terror elements will come here and we advanced so… extreme terror elements won’t settle close to the border with us”
The previous regime came into power in 1970 when Bashar’s father Hafez al-Assad seized power in a bloodless coup Bashar al-Assad had been president since his father’s death in 2000
Israel and Syria do not have diplomatic relations
and have formally been in a perpetual state of war since Israel declared independence in 1948
Syria was one of a number of Arab countries that attacked the newly born Jewish state
an armistice agreement was signed in 1949 that demarcated a border between the two countries
despite the armistice agreement, Syria has never formally recognized Israel’s existence
Syria also attacked Israel during the 1967 Six Day War before the IDF pounded Syrian forces and
seized the Golan Heights which Israel later annexed unilaterally
Syria attacked again in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War and was pushed back after a major advance into the Golan
after the Yom Kippur War, the 1974 disengagement agreement was signed between the states
the disengagement agreement, marked the demilitarized zones, on the Israel-Syrian border
While the fall of the Assad regime which stood for over five decades,
could provide a historic opportunity for recognition between Israel and its neighbor
the potential power vacuum in Syria could also lead to further chaos
and serve as a breeding ground for a resurgence of terror in the region
