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GOLAN HEIGHTS: Forces loyal to the new Syrian government stand guard in the Syrian town of Madinat Al-Baath, in the UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Zionsit-annexed Golan Heights, on January 6, 2025. -- AFP
GOLAN HEIGHTS: Forces loyal to the new Syrian government stand guard in the Syrian town of Madinat Al-Baath, in the UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Zionsit-annexed Golan Heights, on January 6, 2025. -- AFP

Zionists taking arms from locals in Golan buffer zone: Syrian mayor

Troops crossed the armistice line and occupied the UN-patrolled buffer zone

QUNEITRA, Syria: A Syrian mayor told AFP he had meetings with Zionist entity officers as the military conducted incursions in his village inside a Golan Heights buffer zone, saying they had demanded locals relinquish their weapons. The Zionist entity military, contacted by AFP, said it could not comment.

Mohamed Mreiwel, mayor of the village of Jabata Al-Khashab in Quneitra province, said on Monday that he had met three times with Zionist entity officials who had asked to see him. Zionist entity, long a foe of Syria, has launched hundreds of strikes on Syrian military sites since the fall of president Bashar Al-Assad on December 8, destroying most of the army’s arsenal, a war monitor has said.

The same day Assad was toppled by Islamist-led forces, Zionist entity also announced that its troops were crossing the armistice line and occupying the UN-patrolled buffer zone that has separated Zionist entity and Syrian forces on the strategic Golan Heights since 1974. Mreiwel said that in his first meeting with the Zionist entity, “they asked for weapons to be handed over to them within 48 hours”.

Residents of the village, which is located in the buffer zone, had complied with the request, he said. Syria’s army collapsed in the face of the rebel offensive, with thousands of soldiers, policemen and other security officials deserting their posts. Some Syrians seized weapons left behind by soldiers and security personnel, Mreiwel said, with the Zionist entity army “dedicating an area for people to hand over those weapons”. During his latest meeting with the Zionist entity on Sunday, “we told them that we no longer had any weapons and that if we had any, we would hand them over to the Syrian government”, said Mreiwel.

He added that he told the Zionist officials that “we are not allowed to meet with you”, as Syria and Zionist entity are still technically at war and do not have diplomatic ties. Zionist entity troops have conducted patrols on the main street of Jabata Al-Khashab, an AFP correspondent said.

Zionist tanks are also stationed in nearby Baath City, named for the now suspended political party that ran Syria for decades until Assad’s ousting. Zionist entity seized much of the Golan Heights from Syria in war in 1967, later annexing the territory in a move largely unrecognized by the international community. — AFP

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