Villagers in Syria border town claim IDF preventing them from accessing their fields
Resident of Maariyah, in southern Syria, says troops have set up inside abandoned army base and ‘prevented us from moving’; IDF says it is ensuring security of northern border
Israeli forces have set up a position in an abandoned Syrian army base in the village of Maariyah and prevented local farmers from accessing their fields, residents alleged on Thursday.
Associated Press journalists who visited the area saw the Israeli troops from a distance and watched a local 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 Israeli Golan Heights, but outside of a buffer zone in the Golan established by a 1974 ceasefire agreement between Syria and Israel.
Abdel Raouf Issa, a resident of Maariyah, said the Israeli military had advanced 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 said. “We call on the United Nations to remove the occupation as soon as possible.”
Kamal Saleh Damara, a local official in the village, said, “Thank God, we were happy that HTS came,” referring to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the main insurgent group in the coalition that unseated president Bashar al-Assad. “But then Israel came, and it is preventing people from coming and going and moving.”
The Israeli military said 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 declined to comment on specific locations where its troops are deployed.
Shortly after Assad was ousted on December 8, Israeli troops entered the buffer zone — a roughly 400-square-kilometer demilitarized zone separating Israel from Syria — saying that it was a temporary move designed to ensure security for Israeli communities near the border amid the chaos of regime change. The IDF has also acknowledged operating in some areas just beyond the buffer zone.
Israeli allies have said they understand Israel’s need to secure the border, although many have cautioned against remaining in the territory long term, and France, the UN and others have called for Israeli troops to pull back.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told troops during a visit to the area this week that they will have to remain in place there “until another arrangement can be found that guarantees Israel’s security,” indicating it was likely they would stay through 2025.
On Wednesday, a group of residents and dignitaries from the buffer zone in Quneitra province put out a statement complaining that the Israeli forces had forcibly displaced the residents of some villages although they “showed restraint toward the advancing forces and did not resist them.” However, they said some residents were later allowed to return.
The statement called for Israeli forces to withdraw “especially from vital facilities such as the Quneitra provincial government building, the main roads and the water wells and tanks serving the area.”
