Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israeli forces will stay in a buffer zone on the Syrian border, seized after the ouster of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, until another arrangement is in place “that ensures Israel’s security”.
Netanyahu made the comments from the summit of Mount Hermon – the highest peak in the area – inside Syria, about 10km (6 miles) from the border with the Israel-held Golan Heights.
It appeared to be the first time a sitting Israeli leader had set foot that far into Syria. Netanyahu said he had been on the same mountaintop 53 years ago as a soldier, but the summit’s importance to Israel’s security has only increased given recent events.
Israel seized a swathe of southern Syria along the border with the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights days after Assad was ousted by rebels last week.
Israel’s capture of the buffer zone, a roughly 400 sq km (155-square-mile) demilitarised area in Syrian territory, has sparked condemnation, with critics accusing Israel of violating a 1974 ceasefire and possibly exploiting the chaos in Syria in the wake of Assad’s ouster to make a land grab.
“We will stay … until another arrangement is found that ensures Israel’s security,” said Netanyahu who had travelled to the buffer zone on Tuesday with Defence Minister Israel Katz.