Early last month, Israel quietly entered the buffer zone on the Golan Heights and liberated the highest peak of Mount Hermon, raising the blue-and-white banner over the tallest mountain in either country. Israel should annex all of the newly acquired parts of Mount Hermon and formally incorporate them into Israel for both strategic and historical reasons. By taking it, Israel has more than doubled the area of the Hermon under its control, and it now commands a mountaintop which is just 40 km. from Damascus, potentially placing the Syrian capital within range of IDF artillery. The new foothold also provides Israel with a panoramic observation point from which it can closely monitor Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, which has long served as a Hezbollah stronghold.