With the streets of Syria in full celebration for the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad After 13 years of war, the Government of Israel has ordered the Army to create a security zone free of strategic weapons in southern Syria to prevent them from falling into the hands of groups that could be used by the Islamists who have taken power in Syria. This was announced this Monday by the Israeli Minister of Defense, Israel Katz, who has asked to go beyond the “buffer zone”, after Israeli troops occupied it on Sunday control of the Syrian side of Mount Hermon. In addition, Israel also bombed several areas in the south of the country on Monday, arguing that they were facilities where there were supposedly chemical weapons and long-range projectiles.
Katz’s order has come to light hours after the Israeli Army published a series of photographs in which members of the Shaldag unit of the special forces can be seen on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, about ten kilometers from the common border. The IDF deployed troops to a “buffer zone” in the Golan Heights after Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahuwill declare that the historic Separation Agreement signed with Syria in 1974 has “collapsed” after the fall of Al Assad.
Since the last century, Israel has occupied the Golan Heights, a Syrian territory that was invaded during the Six-Day War (1967) and the Yom Kippur War (1973) and was effectively annexed in 1981, an unrecognized movement. by the international community.
Syrian refugees begin to return
Since the rebel offensive on Assad’s territories began on November 27, the return of Syrian refugees who were in Türkiyethe main ally of the Islamists, has been a constant. With the total overthrow of the Al Assad regime, the images of thousands of people queuing at the Turkish border have forced the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoganto announce this Monday the reopening of the Yayladagi border crossing, in the province of Hatay, for manage the safe and voluntary return of millions of migrants Syrians hosted by Ankara.
“To avoid accumulations and facilitate traffic at the border, we will open the Yayladagi border crossing,” said the Turkish president regarding this crossing, which had been closed since 2013 for security reasons. Erdogan stressed that Türkiye will always be proud of having welcomed thousands of “oppressed” Syrians during that “dark” time. “I believe that the strong winds of change will lead to beneficial results for all the Syrian people,” he stressed.
The Turkish president has also accused Al Assad of fleeing “leaving behind a Syria where almost a million people have been massacred, 12 million have been forced to move and many cities have been reduced to rubble,” according to the Anatolia news agency.
On the other hand, many European countries have announced this Monday the suspension of all procedures for asylum applications submitted by Syrian citizens. A spokesperson for the Office of Migration and Refugees of Germany has confirmed that the processes have been suspended, a decision that will affect around 47,000 asylum seekers given that the political situation in Syria was a fundamental component to be assessed when resolving these requests, as indicated by the DPA news agency.
In France The authorities have clarified that the Ministry of the Interior is “working on the suspension of asylum applications that were pending resolution, following the same model as Germany.” These countries have been followed Austria, United Kingdom, Belgium, Swiss, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. In Spain the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jose Manuel Albareshas assured that “At the moment there is no such approach”.