Yedioth Ahronoth: An Israeli 38 kilometers incursion deep into Syrian territories
The Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper published details on what it described as the largest incursion into Syrian territory, 38 kilometers deep, following the fall of Assad regime last December.
The Israeli newspaper asserted that the Israeli army was surprised to find that Syrian military sites exposed important Israeli positions.
Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the Israeli army took control of two military bases that had been under the control of the Syrian army before the fall of the Assad regime, without a fight, in an operation dubbed “Green and White,” in which hundreds of reserve soldiers from the 210th Division participated.
The Israeli forces seized approximately 3.5 tons of weapons and ammunition, including anti-tank missiles, mortar shells, and short-range rockets, in addition to old tanks and military trucks.
The Israeli forces had taken control of a strip of Syrian territory approximately 10 kilometers wide along the Golan Heights, extending to the border triangle area in Hamat Ghadir.
The Israeli army had established eight military sites of varying sizes along the strip it controlled.
Yedioth Ahronoth revealed that the operation lasted 14 hours and witnessed, for the first time since the 1973 war, the entry of Israeli artillery units into Syria to secure the participating forces.
Military sources were quoted as confirming that the control gives Israel a strategic advantage in monitoring the Damascus-Beirut highway and exposing arms smuggling routes to Hezbollah in Lebanon’s Beka’a Valley.
Israeli sources explained that controlling Mount Hermon has become a top priority for the army, given the ability to monitor the Golan Heights from both sides.
Israeli military officials told Yedioth Ahronoth that the sites they seized exposed important Israeli military sites, so the Israeli army would work to maintain control over them.
Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Israeli soldiers contacted residents of several Druze villages in the Damascus countryside surrounding the areas they had seized, providing information about weapons sites belonging to the former Syrian army.
Yedioth Ahronoth also reported that residents of these villages helped provide information that uncovered short-range missile stores and anti-tank launchers.
