{"id":137480,"date":"2024-12-16T00:04:47","date_gmt":"2024-12-15T17:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=137480"},"modified":"2024-12-16T00:04:47","modified_gmt":"2024-12-15T17:04:47","slug":"israel-to-expand-golan-heights-settlements-after-fall-of-assad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=137480","title":{"rendered":"Israel to expand Golan Heights settlements after fall of Assad"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\">\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Israel&#8217;s government has approved a plan to encourage the expansion of settlements in the occupied Golan Heights.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the move was necessary because a &#8220;new front&#8221; had opened up on Israel&#8217;s border with Syria after the fall of the Assad regime to an Islamist-led rebel alliance.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Netanyahu said he wanted to double the population of the Golan Heights, which Israel seized during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered illegally occupied under international law.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Israeli forces moved into a buffer zone separating the Golan Heights from Syria in the days following Assad&#8217;s departure, saying the change of control in Damascus meant ceasefire arrangements had &#8220;collapsed&#8221;.<!-- --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\">\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">There are more than 30 Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights, which are home to an estimated 20,000 people. They are considered illegal under international law, which Israel disputes.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">The settlers live alongside some 20,000 Syrians, most of them Druze Arabs who did not flee when the area came under Israeli control.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Netanyahu said Israel would &#8220;continue to hold on to [the territory], make it flourish and settle it&#8221;. <!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">The announcement comes a day after Syria&#8217;s new de-facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa  criticised Israel for its ongoing strikes on military targets in the country, which have reportedly targeted military facilities. <!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has documented more than 450 Israeli air strikes in Syria since 8 December, including 75 since Saturday evening.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Al-Sharaa &#8211; also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani &#8211; said the strikes &#8220;crossed red lines&#8221; and risked escalating tensions in the region, though he said Syria was not seeking a conflict with any neighbouring state.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Speaking to Syria TV, which was seen as pro-opposition during the civil war, al-Sharaa said the country&#8217;s &#8220;war-weary condition, after years of conflict and war, does not allow for new confrontations&#8221;, Reuters reported.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has not commented on his remarks, but previously said the strikes were necessary to stop weapons falling &#8220;into the hands of extremists&#8221;.<!-- --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-component=\"text-block\">\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">President Bashar al-Assad and his family fled to Russia and took up asylum when al-Sharaa&#8217;s Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led other rebel factions in a lightning offensive on Damascus.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">The groups are continuing to form a transitional government in Syria, of which al-Sharaa is the theoretical head.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">On Saturday, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said <!-- --><a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c5y46713z21o\" class=\"sc-c9299ecf-0 bZUiKB\" rel=\"noopener\">Washington had made direct contact with HTS<!-- --><\/a>, which the US and other Western governments still designates as a terrorist organisation.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">United Nations&#8217; Syria envoy Geir Pedersen said on Sunday he hoped for a swift end to sanctions on the country to help facilitate an economic recovery.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">&#8220;We will hopefully see a quick end to sanctions so that we can see really rallying around building up Syria,&#8221; Pedersen said as he arrived in Damascus to meet Syria&#8217;s caretaker government and other officials.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">Elsewhere, Turkey&#8217;s Defence Minister Yasar Guler said Ankara was ready to provide military support to Syria&#8217;s new government.<!-- --><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-eb7bd5f6-0 fYAfXe\">&#8220;It is necessary to see what the new administration will do. We think it is necessary to give them a chance,&#8221; Guler said of HTS, according to state news agency Anadolu and other Turkish media outlets.<!-- --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cz6lgln128xo\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Israel&#8217;s government has approved a plan to encourage the expansion of settlements in the occupied Golan Heights. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the move was necessary because a &#8220;new front&#8221; &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=137480\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=137480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137480\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=137480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=137480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=137480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}