Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said that the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria was a “direct result” of Israel’s military campaign against Iran and its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah. “This is a historic day in the history of the Middle East,” he said. But in a sign of the potential danger Israel feels from unknown rulers in Damascus, Netanyahu said that he had ordered the military to seize the buffer zone that separates the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from the rest of Syria. “Together with the Defense Minister, and with full backing from the Cabinet, I directed the IDF yesterday to take control of the buffer zone and the dominant positions near it,” he said while visiting the Golan Heights. “We will not allow any hostile force to establish itself on our border.” It is the first time Israeli troops would be stationed in the buffer zone…
