An Israeli tank crosses the ceasefire line between Syria and the Israeli Golan Heights, Dec. 11, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Avi Ohayon

JNS.org — Israel Defense Forces soldiers operating in Syria have confiscated more than 3,000 weapons and other gear belonging to the former Syrian Armed Forces since the fall of the Assad regime on Dec. 8, the army stated on Wednesday.

Among the 3,300 assets seized from Syrian territory, the Technological and Logistics Directorate’s Intelligence and Technical Haul Collection Unit seized firearms, anti-tank missiles and RPG systems, mortar shells, explosive devices, observation equipment, and two tanks, the army said.

Since the start of the current war, which was sparked by the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border massacre of 1,200 people in southern Israel, IDF troops have seized more than 170,000 hostile assets from the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and Syria, according to the IDF.

Forces of the IDF’s 210th “Bashan” Division continue operations inside Syria to “provide security and protection for the residents of Israel and the Golan Heights in particular,” Wednesday’s IDF statement noted.

Since the fall of the Iranian- and Russian-backed Assad regime, Israeli forces have taken up positions inside and beyond the Golan buffer zone, including on the strategic Syrian side of Mount Hermon. The Israeli Air Force has conducted hundreds of strikes on former Assad military assets to prevent them from falling into the hands of hostile forces.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar vowed on Jan. 2 that Jerusalem would not allow another massacre to take place “on any front,” writing on social media after a visit to IDF soldiers serving on the Syrian border.

Ahmed al-Sharaa, head of Syria’s Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group and the nation’s de facto leader, has asked the United States to pressure Israel to withdraw from the Golan buffer zone and the peak of Mount Hermon.