I'm John Bachelor, Bill Raggio, my colleague and co-host of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies,

keeping the Long War Journal, where you can routinely see reporting by Ahmed Sharrari of the FD

about many matters to do across the UMA, but especially Syria.

Ahmed has helped us watch Syria for some time, especially since Al-Shara, former Al-Qaeda warlord,

named himself president and moved into Damascus to dominate the country with his former Al-Qaeda

fighters. However, there have been incidents along the southern border with Israel, where the

IDF has been deployed since the war. And there was a stoning by

local boys recently of an Israeli patrol. The question is, what is to be done about it? Because

Israel is not leaving. Ahmed, a very good evening to you. Since the stoning incident in southern Syria,

I believe there have been no violent confrontations.

What does the government in Damascus make of the Israeli deployment?

Good evening, John. So other than condemnations and announcements from other Arab states as well as the Syrian government, that they're against Israeli incursions in southern Syria. There hasn't been any sort of military

confrontation between the two countries. I think Syria has insisted that it wants to return

back to the arrangement that was between the Syrian government and the Israeli government

before the fall of the Assad regime, which was the 1974 disengagement line, which was signed

between the Assad regime and Israel in 1974, following the Yom Kippur war, that drew a line

near the Golan Heights and demart that side of the border.

But of course, Israel had entered and expanded the buffer zone into southern Syria

following the fall of the Assad regime.

And for now, that seems to be or that appears to be the sticking point

even in negotiations between the two countries.

Bill, you have a question.

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