The Times Of Israel newspaper reported that Bashar alAssad regime is preparing an offensive to retake southern Syria and the Syrian Golan Heights from rebel groups and has reportedly placed tanks and heavy artillery inside the demilitarized buffer zone on the country’s border with Israel.
The step violates the Agreement on Disengagement signed in 1974 between Israel and Syria, which concluded the Yom Kippur War. Israel is expected to complain to the United Nations peacemaking force known as UNDOF, the Haaretz daily reported Thursday.
The report said ''Since most UN staff have been moved out of Syria due to the bloody war and are now watching at a safe distance from Israel, it is unclear if the international body can force the Assad regime to halt its military presence in the buffer zone''. Israel has tried to stay out of the civil war in Syria and refrained from taking sides, but has responded to spillover fire on numerous occasions and warned the Assad regime against attack.
Last year the UN Security Council strongly condemned fighting in the buffer zone and urged the Syrian government and opposition groups to withdraw from the area, according to the report.