Syria too exhausted for conflict with Israel, says rebel leader
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
People working to repair damage to residential buildings and a kindergarten that were hit by an air strike in Idlib, Syria, on Dec 14.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
DAMASCUS - The leader of the Islamist-led rebels who seized power in Damascus criticised Israel on Dec 14 for its incursion into southern Syria
Israeli troops entered the UN-patrolled buffer zone that separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights last weekend, in a move the United Nations said violated the 1974 armistice agreement.
“The Israelis have clearly crossed the disengagement line in Syria, which threatens a new unjustified escalation in the region,” said the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who is now using his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa.
But he added in a statement on the rebels’ Telegram channel that “the general exhaustion in Syria after years of war and conflict does not allow us to enter new conflicts”.
Israel, which has occupied most of the strategic plateau since 1974, said it acted in self-defence in the face of the political uncertainty in its north-eastern neighbour.
Since the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad by HTS-led forces on Dec 8, Israel has also carried out hundreds of air strikes on Syrian military assets, according to a war monitor.
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz has been destroying “strategic capabilities that threaten the State of Israel”. REUTERS
