WarSclerotic

Senior IDF officials on Sunday attended a special ceremony ‎marking the dissolution of a special administration heading the ‎military’s efforts to aid Syrians affected by the civil war raging off ‎Israel’s northern border.‎

Launched in the summer of 2016, Operation Good Neighbor has ‎provided tons of food, medicine and clothing to displaced Syrians. Israel also provided life-saving medical care to hundreds of wounded Syrians, who were admitted to ‎hospitals in northern Israel as needed. ‎

‎”Despite the newfound stability of the regime in Syria, this sector ‎still poses many complex challenges for Israel,” GOC Northern ‎Command Maj. Gen. Yoel Strick said at the ceremony, held on an ‎IDF base near the Golan Heights border. ‎

‎”We are well aware of Iran’s increasing attempts to establish itself ‎militarily in many areas of Syria,” he continued. “We see how the Iranians are trying ‎to transfer weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon through Syria. ‎We know that Hezbollah is trying to establish terrorist ‎infrastructures on the Syrian Golan Heights, near our border, but ‎the IDF will not allow this to happen.”

Strick ‎further warned that ‎‎”anyone seeking to undermine Israeli civilians’ ‎security, in the immediate or distant future, will encounter a strong ‎and determined response by a military that is well aware of what is ‎going on beyond its borders. We will counter those who want to ‎harm us.”‎

Lt. Col. Eyal Dror, who headed the Operation Good Neighbor ‎Administration, told Israel Hayom he felt “privileged to have ‎overseen this operation, which in many ways epitomized Israel’s ‎defense concept.”

“This was an amazing project that illustrated how ‎Israel makes the decision to aid the civilian population in an enemy ‎state,”‎ he said.