This was stated by Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz during a visit to the naval base in Haifa, quotes the Times of Israel.
According to him, Israeli forces are strengthening in the buffer zone "between Syria and the Golan Heights." The Defense Minister announced plans to establish a "sterile defense zone" in southern Syria without a permanent presence of Israeli forces to prevent any threats to Israel.
At the end of November, Syrian rebels launched an offensive against the government forces of Bashar al-Assad and the Russian troops supporting him. They stated that this was a response to the increased strikes by Russian and Syrian air forces on the civilian population in the city of Idlib, which was held by the rebels.
As part of the offensive, the rebels took control of dozens of settlements in the Aleppo and Idlib provinces, including the city of Aleppo, which had been held by Assad's forces since 2016.
The government forces described their retreat as part of a regrouping ahead of reinforcements and a counteroffensive. Russia promised to send additional forces to assist the Syrian government troops. President Bashar al-Assad promised to crush the rebels and regain control over Aleppo.
Later, the cities of Hama and Damascus — the capital of Syria — came under the control of the rebels. Meanwhile, Assad left the country — he was granted asylum in Russia.
In light of this, world leaders welcomed the fall of Assad's regime. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry even expressed readiness to resume relations with Syria in the future.