TEL AVIV (Dispatches) – Zionist war minister Israel Katz on Friday ordered Israeli troops to “prepare to remain” throughout the winter in Syria including the strategic Jabal al-Shaykh mountain which they occupied after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad. 
In an announcement, Katz said he had issued the order during an assessment the previous day with the Israeli army’s chief of staff Herzi Halevi, and other officers.
“Due to the situation in Syria, it is of critical security importance to maintain our presence at the summit of Mount Hermon [Jabal al-Shaykh], and everything must be done to ensure the (army’s) readiness on-site to enable the troops to stay there despite the challenging weather conditions,” he said.
Katz confirmed that the peaks have been fully occupied, describing it “a touching historical moment,” and recalling a visit to the Golan Heights with Zionist prime minister Netanyahu, where they observed the occupied areas.
The Zionist regime started its push to grab more Syrian land on Sunday, after foreign-backed militants led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) announced the fall of President Assad’s government following a rapid two-week onslaught.
Israeli forces seized the so-called buffer zone, which separates the occupied Golan Heights from the rest of Syria, in violation of a 1974 disengagement agreement. The occupation forces have entered several towns in Quneitra, forcibly evacuating residents. 
They occupied the summit of Jabal al-Shaykh which provides an observation point for areas in Syria and Lebanon. It rises to 9,232 feet (2,814 meters) and is the highest point on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
Israeli troops have advanced beyond the so-called buffer zone toward Damascus, with the regime’s warplanes conducting hundreds of aerial assaults on Syria.
Katz had earlier said that the regime was planning a “sterile defense zone” in southern Syria. Several regional countries said Israel is taking advantage of the chaotic situation in Syria to expand its occupation of the Arab state.
Israeli soldiers entered the town of Al-Hurriya in Quneitra province on Thursday. Local sources said Israeli forces also carried out a forced evacuation of the residents of the village of Rasem al-Ruwadi in the region. 
On Wednesday evening, Israeli forces stormed the towns of Ruwaihinah and Umm Batna in the central countryside of Quneitra as well.
Residents of the town said the occupying regime forces asked them to evacuate their homes to annex them to the so-called buffer zones. The incursion involved tanks and infantry units, during which several houses were searched. 
Many Syrians and others watching the fast-moving pace of events say Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is using this moment of change in their country to permanently seize further territory.
“They are saying they will give it back, but they are already occupying the Golan Heights which they haven’t given back. What would make you believe they will give this back?” Haid Haid, a senior consulting associate fellow at Chatham House, told Middle East Eye. 

Israel has wiped out Syrian naval vessels, sea-to-sea missiles, helicopters and planes, including the entire fleet of MiG-29 fighter jets and stockpiles of ammunition in attacks on at least five air bases.
Reports say Israel and militant groups in Syria have previously come to successful arrangements whereby Israel provided emergency aid and medical care to militants so long as the groups did not attack the Zionist regime.
In a note to correspondents issued on Thursday, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he is “deeply concerned” over “extensive violations” of Syrian sovereignty.
The UN chief also said he is “particularly concerned over the hundreds of Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Syria.” 
He further stressed that the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement between Israel and Syria “remains in force” and that it must be upheld by “ending all unauthorized presence in the area of separation and refraining from any action that would undermine the ceasefire and stability in Golan.”
In Damascus, militants mobilized crowds in the capital’s largest square for celebration to mark the first Friday since the fall of the city.
It came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with allies around the region looking to shape the transition.
After talks in Jordan and Turkey — which backs some of the militant factions — Blinken arrived in Iraq on a previously unannounced stop. So far, U.S. officials have not talked of direct meetings with Syria’s new rulers.
Turkey controls a strip of Syrian territory along the shared border and backs an insurgent faction uneasily allied to HTS — and is deeply opposed to any gains by Syria’s Kurds. The U.S. has troops in eastern Syria and backs Kurdish-backed militants who rule most of the east. 
Since Assad’s fall, Israel has bombed sites all over Syria, and has seized a swath of southern Syria along the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, calling it a buffer zone.
After talks with Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Blinken said there was “broad agreement” between Turkey and the United States on what they would like to see in Syria.
Fidan said the priority was “ensuring that Daesh and the PKK aren’t dominant” — referring to the Kurdistan Workers Party. Turkey considers the PKK a terrorist group — as it does the Kurdish-backed forces in Syria backed by the United States.
The public in Syria is both stunned by Assad’s fall and concerned over extremist takfiris among the militant ranks. 
The militant leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, appeared in a video message Friday congratulating what he called “the great Syrian people for the victory of the blessed revolution.”
“I invite them to head to the squares to show their happiness without shooting bullets and scaring people,” he said.  
Crowds, including militants, packed Damascus’ historic Umayyad Mosque in the capital’s old city, many of them waving militant flags.