First attack on the Israeli occupation forces since their incursion into Syria

The Israeli army reported that gunmen targeted its forces in the Quneitra countryside area, located in the liberated part of the occupied Golan Heights, in the first incident of its kind since the Israeli forces began their incursion into Syria and occupied the buffer zone after the fall of Assad regime.

In a statement issued by the occupation army, it stated that the attack took place on Friday evening, and didn’t result in any injuries among the soldiers, adding that the forces responded to the source of the gunfire.

The statement stressed that the Israeli army will continue its work in the area to remove what it considered threats targeting Israel and its residents.
For its part, the Israeli army radio described the incident as exceptional, noting that it was the first time that Israeli forces had come under fire since the beginning of their incursion into the buffer zone in the Golan Heights and the surrounding areas in southern Syria.

According to media reports, the incident took place in the town of Taranja in the northern Quneitra countryside, during an incursion by an Israeli force into the town.

After the attack, Israeli helicopters intervened to secure the withdrawal of the invading forces, and that Israeli forces used flares during the operation.

The Israeli force arrested two people during its incursion into the town.

Since the fall of the Assad regime last December, the Israeli army has carried out incursions into a number of cities and towns in the Quneitra and Dara’a governorates on the border with the occupied Golan, before withdrawing from most of them.

On the political level, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Syrian territories it occupies.

He stated at a press conference in New York that a faster withdrawal of forces would be better, noting that the Israeli military presence poses a challenge to the work of the UN mission.

Lacroix pointed out that the Israeli presence in the buffer zone violates the disengagement agreement signed between Syria and Israel in 1974, stressing that during his meeting with Israeli officials he stressed the need to end this presence.

After the fall of the Syrian regime, Israel announced the end of the 1974 disengagement agreement, and took control of the buffer zone in the Golan, most of which it had occupied since 1967, and established fixed points on Mount Hermon, including a helicopter landing pad.

It stressed that its forces will remain in these areas indefinitely, and in contrast, the Syrian transitional authorities and a number of regional and international countries demanded the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they recently occupied.