Watching with trepidation and glee, Netanyahu orders military to seize Syria buffer zone [View all]

[nmmi]

Source: CNN by way of MSN

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said that the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria was a "direct result" of Israel's military campaign against Iran and its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah.

. . .

But in a sign of the potential danger Israel feels from unknown rulers in Damascus, Netanyahu said that he had ordered the military to seize the buffer zone that separates the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from the rest of Syria.

"Together with the Defense Minister, and with full backing from the Cabinet, I directed the IDF yesterday to take control of the buffer zone and the dominant positions near it," he said while visiting the Golan Heights. "We will not allow any hostile force to establish itself on our border."

It is the first time Israeli troops would be stationed in the buffer zone since a 1974 agreement establishing the line of control between Israel and Syria, though they have in the past entered the no-man's land for brief periods. Since 1974, the buffer zone has been patrolled by United Nations peacekeepers. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and annexed it in 1981.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/watching-with-trepidation-and-glee-netanyahu-orders-military-to-seize-syria-buffer-zone/ar-AA1vtLBg

---

I mostly posted this because of the nice map, so if you see the headlines, you'll know what they are talking about. The buffer zone is the thin gray-white striped strip that contains Quneitra as one of its cities.

"Together with the Defense Minister, and with full backing from the Cabinet, I directed the IDF yesterday to take control of the buffer zone and the dominant positions near it"

I don't know what the "dominant positions near it" is. Edited to add - specifically how much additional territory and where on a map. And does Bibi have a more expansive idea of what that phrase means than the average person might.