![A view of military vehicles patrolling the Syrian-Israeli border in the Majdal Shams area of the Golan Heights, as the Israeli army reinforces its ground forces amid ongoing military mobilization in the region on December 15, 2024. [Saeed Qaq - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/AA-20241215-36492818-36492816-SYRIANISRAELI_BORDER_IN_GOLAN_HEIGHTS.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Anadolu filmed massive destruction left by the Israeli army after it withdrew from Madinat Al-Baath, now renamed Madinat Al-Salam (Peace City) in Syria’s Quneitra province in the occupied Golan Heights.
Footage showed damaged government and courthouse buildings, roads flattened by bulldozers, destroyed equipment and burned and shredded papers and belongings, Anadolu Agency reports.
Jadallah Hammoud, a resident of Khan Arnabeh neighbourhood in Quneitra, said Israeli forces had used these buildings as strategic positions.
“The courthouse contained official records belonging to local residents and legal case files. The level of destruction there was severe. Official documents were scattered on the streets,” Hammoud told Anadolu.
Hammoud noted that the courthouse held important documents and records of cases lasting 20 to 30 years.
“If any key document or witness evidence is lost, how can we restore our rights? This is systematic terror against the people of Quneitra and our homeland,” Hammoud said.
The Syrian resident also dismissed an Iranian or Hezbollah presence in the area as baseless.
Salim Bakeyt, an official at the governor’s office, said work was underway to rebuild the road from the building to Hamidiye village, aiming to clear the rubble left by the Israeli army and restore the road for use.
The Israeli army occupied the demilitarised zone in the Golan Heights early December 2024, violating the 1974 Disengagement Agreement with Syria, in a move that expanded Israel’s control over the territory, most of which it has occupied since the 1967 Middle East War.
Bashar Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia after anti-regime groups took control of Damascus on 8 December, ending the Baath Party’s regime, which had been in power since 1963.
READ: Car bomb kills 15 in Syria, deadliest since Assad toppled