Russia: Israel’s actions in Golan Heights unlikely to stabilise situation in Syria

Israel’s actions in Syria are unlikely to help stabilise the country amid its seizure of the demilitarised buffer zone in the occupied Golan Heights following the fall of the Bashar Al-Assad regime, Russia warned yesterday.

“I have nothing to add to what has already been said. Of course, the strikes, the actions [of Israel] in the Golan Heights, in the buffer zone, are unlikely to contribute to stabilising the situation in an already destabilised Syria,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

Expressing that Moscow would like to see the situation in Syria stabilise in “one way or another” as soon as possible, Peskov said the Kremlin is closely monitoring events in the country and maintaining contacts with those currently controlling the situation on the ground.

“This is necessary because our bases are there, our diplomatic missions are there,” Peskov explained.

He said Russia helped Syria “at one time” to stabilise the country after the situation there threatened the entire region, and that it “fulfilled its mission” but spent “a lot of effort” on this.

“Unfortunately, [the course of events] led to the situation that exists now,” Peskov went on to say, adding that they now need to “proceed from the realities that currently exist on the ground.”

Bashar Al-Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia after anti-regime groups took control of Damascus early Sunday, ending the Ba’ath Party’s rule over the country, which began in 1963.

Since the fall of the Assad regime, the Israeli army embarked on an extensive air campaign that targeted military sites across Syria, including strikes on the ports of Al-Beida and Latakia that destroyed the Syrian navy fleet.

The Israeli army also announced it has “temporarily” seized control of a demilitarised buffer zone in the Golan Heights, saying the 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria had “collapsed”.

READ: UN official condemns Israel attacks on Syria as violations of int’l law