The IDF has announced that it aided UN forces in repelling a rebel attack on a United Nations outpost close to the Golan Heights.
In a statement, the IDF said: “A short while ago, an attack was carried out by armed individuals at a UN post in the Hader area in Syria. The IDF is currently assisting the UN forces in repelling the attack.”
Hader is a Druze village in southern Syria’s Quneitra province.
Additionally, the IDF deployed additional forces to the Golan Heights, and warned the Syrian rebels not to use the current instability in the country as an opportunity to attack Israel.
The attacked UNDOF outpost is tasked with monitoring the 1974 Israel-Syria disengagement agreement. The outpost sits on a hill opposite Majdal Shams, just feet from the Israeli border. Israel’s intervention was partly motivated by the proximity of the Druze community in Hader, closely tied to residents of Majdal Shams across the border.
Israel has a history of intervening in the area. Nearly a decade ago, earlier in the Syrian civil war, the IDF acted to protect Hader against rebel advances, to prevent the Israeli Druze community from taking action independently. Israel had previously assured Majdal Shams’ leaders it would step in to safeguard their Syrian relatives if necessary.
{Matzav.com}
