IDF Warns Syrians Near Border: ‘Fighting is Forcing IDF to Act – For Your Safety, Don’t Go Out’

Photo Credit: Eitan Elhadez-Barak/TPS-IL

The Israel-Syria border and the Syrian town of Quneitra on Dec. 8, 2024. Israel reinforced security along the border as Islamist rebels overthrew the Syrian government of Bashar Assad.

The IDF has issued an urgent warning to residents of villages in southern Syria along Israel’s northern border to “stay at home” due to fighting in the area.

#عاجل ‼️ تحذير عاجل الى السكان في جنوب سوريا في القرى والبلدات التالية:

?أوفانية
?القنيطرة
?الحميدية
?الصمدانية الغربية
?القحطانية

القتال داخل منطقتكم يجبر جيش الدفاع على التحرك ولا ننوي المساس بكم.

من أجل سلامتكم عليكم البقاء في منازلكم وعدم الخروج حتى إشعار آخر pic.twitter.com/nvY95182j5

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) December 8, 2024

“Urgent warning to the residents of southern Syria in the following villages and towns: Ofaniya, Quneitra, Al-Hamidiyah, Western Samadanism, Qahtaini.

“The fighting inside your area is forcing the IDF to act and we do not intend to harm you. For your safety, you must stay at home and not go out until further notice,” the IDF wrote.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israeli forces have taken control over the entire buffer zone separating Israel from Syria, including a former Syrian military base atop the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, the tallest mountain in the area.

Netanyahu said that he and Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the IDF on Sunday to take control over the demilitarized zone to prevent attacks against the Jewish State.

“The Syrian army abandoned its positions. We gave the Israeli army the order to take over these positions to ensure that no hostile force embeds itself right next to the border of Israel. This is a temporary defensive position until a suitable arrangement is found,” Netanyahu said.