Residents of the town of Baath in the southern Syrian governorate of Quneitra – currently under occupation by Israel’s military – have been ordered by Israeli forces to surrender all weapons present in the town or face invasion.
Israeli troops ordered Baath City’s residents to give up all arms within two hours on 22 December, according to a report by Israel’s Maariv newspaper.
The army has “issued an ultimatum to residents of Baath to surrender their weapons within two hours, threatening to enter the city,” the report says. It is unclear what weapons or military infrastructure are in Baath.
This came as part of a large-scale deployment across southern Syria.
Israel continues to solidify its occupation of southern Syria after expanding its presence beyond the occupied Golan Heights and strategic Mount Hermon (Jabal al-Sheikh) following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government on 8 December.
Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in Syria reported on Sunday “the entry of tanks and mechanized patrols of the occupation army from Al-Hamidiya in the Quneitra countryside towards the center of the governorate. “The entry of Israeli forces coincided with search campaigns that included some homes and farms in the villages of the central countryside.”
According to Al Mayadeen, Israeli troops also opened fire indiscriminately towards the forests of Al-Hamidiya and Al-Hurriya in the Quneitra countryside.
Israel has set up seven permanent outposts along the UN-monitored buffer zone, which Israeli forces expanded in the aftermath of Damascus’ fall.
Two of these outposts in Mount Hermon overlook Damascus and all its western suburbs. Since 8 December, Israeli forces have illegally occupied nearly 500 square kilometers of southern Syria.
Israel’s recent expansion has seen invading troops seize precious water sources such as the Al-Wahda Dam on the Yarmouk River Basin. Syrian and Israeli sources, including Carmel News citing an Iranian source, reported earlier this week that Israel now controls 30 percent of Syria’s water supply and 40 percent of Jordan’s.
After recently taking control of the freshwater basin of Yarmouk, Israeli troops have now reached three new bodies of water: Sheikh Hussein, Sahm al-Julan dam, and the western Baraka.
The Israeli army recently opened fire at protesters near the Yarmouk Basin as they were demonstrating against Tel Aviv’s occupation in Syria. At least one was injured.
The UN has expressed “deep concern” over Israeli violation of Syria’s sovereignty and the 1974 border agreement signed indirectly between the Syrian and Israeli governments. After the fall of Assad’s government, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly announced the end of the agreement.
Israeli airstrikes have decimated the majority of Syria’s military capabilities in a brutal aerial campaign launched after the government fell to extremist groups.
On Tuesday, Netanyahu said that Israeli troops will occupy the recently seized territory in Syria for the foreseeable future.