5 wounded in clashes between IDF and Syrians in Golan Heights buffer zone

Syrian monitor group says IDF demanding villages in Golan Heights buffer zone surrender their weapons to prevent their seizure by Islamist rebel group leading provisional government.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

At least five people were wounded Wednesday morning during clashes between Syrian protesters and IDF forces deployed to the demilitarized zone in the Golan Heights.

Arab media outlets, including Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hadath, reported that a group of Syrians living in the demilitarized zone clashed with Israeli forces during a protest against the presence of IDF troops in the Quneitra district.

During the clashes, according to the report, Israeli soldiers opened fire, wounding five rioters.

The incident occurred less than a day after the IDF demanded that the village leaders of Jubata al-Khashab, a small Sunni town in the DMZ less than a mile from the Israeli border, surrender all weapons stored in the village.

“They [the Israelis] told us that they have information regarding light and heavy weapons in our village,” residents said in a video released Tuesday. “They said we have 48 hour to hand over the weapons to them. So our response is this: We have a [provisional] government, and if we have any weapons that need to be handed over, we’ll give it to them.

“They [the Israelis] told us that they are here in order to prevent ISIS soldiers or the [Syrian rebel group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham] from entering the area, and that the are the relevant authority in the area over any weapons here.”

Following the collapse of the Assad regime on December 8, Israeli forces occupied the 100-square-mile buffer zone that separates the Israeli Golan Heights from the Syrian frontier.

Established in 1974 following the Yom Kippur War, the buffer zone was carved out of the roughly 200 square miles that fell under Syrian control under the disengagement of forces agreement. Israel retained the remaining 500 square miles of the Golan, which it annexed in 1981.