IDF calls troops to Golan as rebels force Syrian army from border province

The IDF announced that following a situational assessment, the military would call up additional soldiers for defensive missions in the Golan Heights.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF DECEMBER 7, 2024 12:09 Updated: DECEMBER 7, 2024 12:46

Smoke billows in the distance as damaged cars are seen at the site of Syrian regime airstrikes targeting anti-regime fighters in Aleppo, in northern Syria on November 30, 2024. (photo credit: AAREF WATAD/AFP via Getty Images)

The Syrian army began retreating from the Quneitra province bordering Israel on Saturday, Israeli state broadcaster KAN News reported, citing Syrian opposition sources. 

Two rebels and a Syrian officer confirmed to Reuters that rebels took over the city of Quneitra in the governate of Quneitra in the Syrian Golan. 

Earlier on Saturday, the Syrian army withdrew from Daraa and Suwayda in southwestern Syria. 

Along with the Syrian army's retreat, several members of pro-Iranian militias began to withdraw from Syria towards the direction of Iraq, an Iraqi security source told Saudi news outlet Al-Hadath. 

Iranian-backed militias retreat to Iraq

Al-Hadath noted that the source said that hundreds of foreign fighters belonging to Iranian-backed militias from Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan are retreating to Al-Qa'im, an Iraqi border town. 

An aerial picture shows members of Syria's White Helmets civil defence service clearing vehicle carcasses and rubble from a street in Aleppo on December 5, 2024. (credit: OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP via Getty Images)

The IDF announced on both Friday and Saturday that following a situational assessment, the military would call up additional soldiers for defensive missions in the Golan Heights, adjacent to the Israel-Syria border.