Netanyahu says the 1974 Syria disengagement deal has collapsed and orders army into buffer zone

# Netanyahu says the 1974 Syria disengagement deal has collapsed and orders army into buffer zone

*Event date: 2024-12-08*

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the 1974 Agreement on Disengagement with Syria has “collapsed” and ordered the Israeli military to move into the buffer zone on the Syrian side of the occupied Golan Heights.

The announcement, reported by The New Arab, signals a sharp escalation in Israel’s posture along the Syria frontier at a moment of profound upheaval inside Syria. According to the report, Netanyahu made the statement during a visit to the border area and said he had directed the army to seize the buffer zone and nearby commanding positions. He argued that Israel would not allow what he described as a hostile force to establish itself near its border.

The buffer zone was created under the 1974 ceasefire arrangement to separate Israeli and Syrian forces. It has been monitored by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force ever since. The report says Netanyahu claimed Syrian soldiers had abandoned their positions and that the long-standing arrangement could no longer function in its original form.

The move matters because the disengagement agreement has been one of the most important stabilising mechanisms on the Israel-Syria frontier for nearly five decades. Even though the two countries have remained technically at war, the agreement and the UN-patrolled buffer zone helped limit direct military contact. Any declaration that the accord has collapsed raises questions about how far Israel intends to go in shaping the security environment on the Syrian side of the border.

Netanyahu also framed the moment as a wider regional turning point, linking Israel’s actions to broader changes inside Syria. The report says he described the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime as a historic day and suggested that pressure on Iran and Hezbollah had helped produce the outcome. He also said Israel would pursue a “good neighbour” policy, offering humanitarian aid to Syrian civilians while avoiding direct involvement in Syria’s internal affairs.

That contrast between asserted restraint and military occupation is central to understanding the statement. On one hand, the prime minister presented the move as a defensive action to protect Israel’s border. On the other, he signalled that Israel was willing to act inside a zone previously governed by a formal understanding and international monitoring. For Syria, already weakened by conflict and political fragmentation, the loss or abandonment of an established border arrangement would deepen uncertainty.

The report does not provide an independent verification of every operational detail, but it is clear on the main diplomatic and military message: Netanyahu has publicly declared the agreement obsolete and ordered the army to occupy ground inside the former buffer zone. That alone makes the statement a notable departure from the status quo on one of the Middle East’s most sensitive frontiers.