Israel maintains presence in Syria buffer zone for border security reasons

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed that Israeli forces will continue to maintain a presence in a Syrian buffer zone until security along the border is assured, News.az reports citing foreign media.

Following the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Israeli troops moved into the buffer zone with Syria in the Golan Heights, seizing strategic points.

Following the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Israeli troops moved into the buffer zone with Syria in the Golan Heights, seizing strategic points.

Netanyahu's office explained the deployment aims to prevent jihadi groups from exploiting the vacuum left by Assad's ousting.

"Israel will not permit jihadi groups to fill that vacuum and threaten Israeli communities on the Golan Heights with October 7th-style attacks," it said, referencing the Hamas-led assault that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.

The Golan Heights, annexed by Israel after the 1967 Mideast War, remains internationally recognized as occupied Syrian territory, except by the U.S. Netanyahu emphasized that the military presence is temporary, pending the establishment of a force to secure the border per the 1974 agreement.

News.Az