Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles line up the area outside the Druze village of Majdal Shams on the fence with the buffer zone that separates the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights from the rest of Syria on December 9, 2024. Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on December 9 that his country's military takeover of the buffer zone along its border with Syria was a "limited and temporary step" after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the previous day that he had ordered the army to "take control" of the zone, following the fall of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)