Yadhout Ahronot: Israel looms the possibility of withdrawal from the Golan

The Israeli army chief of staff Gen. Moshe Yaloun stressed that Israel is able to defend itself in its borders with Syria in case of giving up the strategic Golan heights in line with any peace agreement with Damascus.

Yaloun said in statements to the Israeli daily Yadhout Ahronot that such a matter is possible, militarily speaking, should this agreement be reached, but he also warned that Syria still constitutes a danger on Israel's security, not ruling out a possibility to have a new war with it.

Yaloun stressed that he can not rule out a scenario of confrontations between the two sides in case tension is escalated on the Lebanese front, noting that Damascus owns missiles able to reach all parts of Israel.

This is, however, the first time in which an Israeli army chief of staff speaks about the possibility of withdrawal from the Golan which Syria sets as a condition to restore it completely for finalizing a peace agreement with Israel.

The strategic Golan heights extends at an area of 1200 square kilometers and includes a huge storage of fresh waters. It was inhabited by thousands of the Israelis in 18 settlements following the Israeli occupation of it in 1967.