Israel‘s military is expected to stay in the buffer zone in neighboring Syria for the duration of the winter due to the Jewish state’s security concerns following the fall of the Assad regime.

Following Assad’s fall, Israeli forces moved into the demilitarized zone inside Syria that was created after the 1973 Israel-Arab war. The move was to ensure that the deposed leader’s military arsenal and infrastructure could not be utilized by the extremist groups within Syria’s borders that now have more ability to reconstitute and grow due to the country’s newfound instability.