QUNEITRA: A Syrian mayor told AFP he had meetings with Israeli officers as the military conducted incursions in his village inside a Golan Heights buffer zone, saying they had demanded locals relinquish their weapons.
The Israeli military, contacted by AFP, said it could not comment.
Mohamed Mreiwel, mayor of the village of Jabata Al-Khashab in Quneitra province, said on Monday that he had met three times with Israeli officials who had asked to see him.
Israel, long a foe of Syria, has launched hundreds of strikes on Syrian military sites since the fall of president Bashar Assad on December 8, destroying most of the army’s arsenal, a war monitor has said.
The same day Assad was toppled by Islamist-led forces, Israel also announced that its troops were crossing the armistice line and occupying the UN-patrolled buffer zone that has separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the strategic Golan Heights since 1974.
Mreiwel said that in his first meeting with the Israelis, “they asked for weapons to be handed over to them within 48 hours.”
Residents of the village, which is located in the buffer zone, had complied with the request, he said.
Syria’s army collapsed in the face of the rebel offensive, with thousands of soldiers, policemen and other security officials deserting their posts.
Some Syrians seized weapons left behind by soldiers and security personnel, Mreiwel said, with the Israeli army “dedicating an area for people to hand over those weapons.”
During his latest meeting with the Israelis on Sunday, “we told them that we no longer had any weapons and that if we had any, we would hand them over to the Syrian government,” said Mreiwel.
He added that he told the Israeli officials that “we are not allowed to meet with you,” as Syria and Israel are still technically at war and do not have diplomatic ties.
Israeli troops have conducted patrols on the main street of Jabata Al-Khashab, an AFP correspondent said.
Israeli tanks are also stationed in nearby Baath City, named for the now suspended political party that ran Syria for decades until Assad’s ousting.
Israel seized much of the Golan Heights from Syria in war in 1967, later annexing the territory in a move largely unrecognized by the international community.
Syrian mayor says Israel collected arms from locals in Golan buffer zone
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Syrian mayor says Israel collected arms from locals in Golan buffer zone
- Some Syrians seized weapons left behind by soldiers and security personnel, Mreiwel said, with the Israeli army dedicating an area for people to hand over those weapons
UK sanctions RSF commanders over links to mass killings in Sudan
- The government also pledged a further £21 million to provide food, shelter, health services, and protection for women and children
LONDON: Britain sanctioned senior commanders of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on Friday, over what it said were their links to mass killings, systematic sexual violence and deliberate attacks on civilians in the African country.
Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo, the RSF Deputy Leader and brother of RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, as well as three other commanders that are suspected of involvement in these crimes, now face asset freezes and travel bans, the British government said.
“The atrocities taking place in Sudan are so horrific they scar the conscience of the world,” foreign minister Yvette Cooper said in the statement. “Today’s sanctions against RSF commanders strike directly at those with blood on their hands.”
The government also pledged a further £21 million to provide food, shelter, health services, and protection for women and children in some of the hardest-to-reach areas, the statement said.
Millions of people have been displaced by the war, which erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the RSF.
