Israeli forces operating in Syria continue to destroy military infrastructure belonging to the former Syrian Armed Forces, the Israel Defense Forces said on Thursday.
The 474th Golan Regional Brigade of the IDF’s 210th “Bashan” Division is working to “provide security and protection for the residents of Israel and the Golan Heights in particular,” according to an IDF statement.
During searches at one of the army outposts on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, Israeli forces discovered an armored personnel carrier with “numerous weapons, anti-tank missiles and explosives,” per the IDF.
All of the weapons were destroyed or confiscated to prevent them from reaching “hostile elements.”
The brigade, consisting of armored, engineering and infantry forces, continues operations for the security of the Golan Heights, including by setting up checkpoints in the area, the Israeli military added.
Since the fall of the Iranian- and Russian-backed Assad regime on Dec. 8, the IDF has taken up positions inside and beyond the Golan buffer zone, including on the strategic Syrian side of Mount Hermon. The Israeli Air Force has conducted hundreds of strikes on former Assad military assets to prevent them from falling into the hands of hostile forces.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar vowed on Jan. 2 that Jerusalem would not allow another massacre to take place “on any front,” writing on X after a visit to Israeli soldiers serving on the Syrian border.
On Sunday, Israeli troops found stockpiles of weapons at the peak of the Hermon. During a raid that concluded in recent weeks, troops from the 810th “Mountain” Brigade searched military structures and key points, locating, confiscating and destroying arms and intelligence assets.
Mines, explosives, anti-tank missiles, rockets and launchers were among the weapons found by the soldiers during the operation.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, head of Syria’s Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group and the country’s de facto leader, has asked the United States to pressure Israel to withdraw from the Golan buffer zone and the peak of Mount Hermon.