Israeli minister warns Syria not to move forces into border zone

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — An Israeli Cabinet minister warned Syria on Thursday that Israel could attack Syrian forces if they were deployed in a border zone subject to a 44-year-old UN demilitarisation agreement, building on their rout of Syrian rebels in the region. 

Backed by Russia, Syrian President Bashar Assad launched an offensive last month to regain the southern Daraa region, driving thousands of refugees toward the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israel reinforced its tanks and artillery there as a precaution.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who meets Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow next week, called on Sunday for the preservation of a 1974 Israeli-Syrian armistice barring or limiting military build-ups by either side around the Golan.

“We must verify and do everything to clarify, vis-a-vis the Russians, the Assad government, that we will not accept any armed presence by the Assad regime in the areas which are meant to be demilitarised,” Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan told the news site Ynet on Thursday.