The Israeli army prepares to spend the winter on Mount Hermon

Israel’s Defense Minister has ordered troops to prepare to spend the winter atop Mount Hermon, which sits on the border between Syria, Lebanon and a UN demilitarized buffer zone in the Golan Heights. .

The announcement comes after Israel took control of the area on December 8 following the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Defense Minister Israel Katz’s office said in a statement that “given what is happening in Syria, it is of enormous security importance that we maintain the summit.”

katz posted a photo on X showing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu using binoculars with the words: “Overlooking the Syrian peak of Mount Hermon, which returned to Israeli control after 51 years.”

The UN has called on Israel to withdraw from the buffer zone, which lies between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement that he was “deeply concerned by the recent extensive violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

The UN has said Israel is violating a 1974 withdrawal agreement between Israel and Syria that established the buffer zone.

Israel has said the 1974 withdrawal agreement “collapsed” with the fall of the Syrian government.

The summit of Mount Hermon is located on the border between Syria and Lebanon. The UN base near the summit is located within the buffer zone.

The Golan Heights are a plateau about 60 kilometers (40 mi) southwest of Damascus.

Israel seized the area from Syria in the final stages of the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed it in 1981. The move was not recognized internationally, although the United States did so unilaterally in 2019.

After rebel forces overthrew the Assad regime in Syria, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) took control of the buffer zone and occupied new positions in the Golan Heights, including the summit of Mount Hermon.

The statement from Katz’s office said that “everything must be done to ensure IDF readiness on the ground to allow fighters to remain there in the severe weather conditions.”

Guterres affirmed Thursday that the 1974 agreement “remains in force” and condemned any actions inconsistent with it. It called on its parties to fulfill their obligations, including by “ending all unauthorized presence in the separation area.”

Guterres also said he was “particularly concerned” about hundreds of Israeli airstrikes in several locations in Syria.

The IDF said its air force and navy carried out more than 350 strikes this week against Syrian military assets.

Israel said it was acting to prevent weapons from falling “into the hands of extremists.”