Kremlin says Israel’s actions in Golan Heights unlikely to stabilize situation in Syria

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Kremlin on Wednesday said that Israel’s actions in Syria are unlikely to stabilize the situation amid its seizure of a demilitarized buffer zone in the occupied Golan Heights following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.

“I have nothing to add to what has already been said. Of course, the strikes, the actions (of Israel) in the Golan Heights, in the buffer zone, are unlikely to contribute to stabilizing the situation in an already destabilized Syria,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in the Russian capital Moscow.

Expressing that Moscow would like to see the situation in Syria stabilize in “one way or another” as soon as possible, Peskov said they are closely monitoring all that is going on in the country and maintaining contacts with those currently controlling the situation on the ground.

“This is necessary because our bases are there, our diplomatic missions are there,” Peskov further said.

He also said Russia helped Syria “at one time” to stabilize the situation in the country after this threatened the entire region, and that it "fulfilled its mission" but spent “a lot of effort” for this.

“Unfortunately, (the course of events) led to the situation that exists now,” Peskov went on to say, adding that they now need to “proceed from the realities that currently exist on the ground."

Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia after anti-regime groups took control of Damascus early Sunday, ending the Baath Party's rule in the country, which had been in power since 1963.

Since the fall of the Assad regime, the Israeli army embarked on an extensive air campaign that targeted military sites across Syria, including strikes on the Syrian ports of Al-Beida and Latakia that destroyed the Syrian navy fleet.

The Israeli army also announced it has "temporarily" seized control of a demilitarized buffer zone in the Golan Heights, saying the 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria had "collapsed."