Syrian villagers near Golan Heights claim IDF blocking farmers from their fields

Residents of the southern Syrian town of Maariyah claim the Israeli military has set up a position in an abandoned army base and is preventing local farmers from accessing their fields.

Associated Press journalists who visited the area say they saw the Israel Defense Forces troops from a distance and watched a resident waving a white flag approach to speak with them.

The village, on the western edge of Syria’s southern Daraa province, is near the Golan Heights, but outside of a buffer zone established by a 1974 ceasefire agreement between Syria and Israel.

Maariyah resident Abdel Raouf Issa says the IDF penetrated about 1 kilometer (two-thirds of a mile) into the village and “is demanding that we hand over all weapons to the occupation. We told them that we have no weapons at all.”

“They prevented us from farming. They prevented us from moving,” he says. “We call on the United Nations to remove the occupation as soon as possible.”

The IDF says in a statement that it is “operating within the buffer zone and in several additional locations in its proximity to ensure the security of Israel’s northern border.” It declines to comment on specific locations where troops are deployed.

Israel entered the UN-patrolled buffer zone hours after rebel groups in Syria took Damascus on December 8, stressing that it was a temporary defensive move that would last only until security was guaranteed along the frontier.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this week that Israeli forces would stay there until another arrangement is in place “that ensures Israel’s security.”