PM Netanyahu said Tuesday Israeli forces will stay in a buffer zone on the Syrian border, and specifically on the summit of Mount Hermon, “until another arrangement is found that will ensure Israel’s security”.
The comments from the snow-dusted summit which is located on Syria’s side of the border. This was apparently the first time a sitting Israeli leader entered the Syrian territory.
Netanyahu said he had been on the summit of Mount Hermon 53 years ago as a soldier, but the summit’s importance to Israel’s security has only increased. The previously unannounced trip was likely to be viewed as provocative by Syria’s new leadership, which has criticised Israel’s expanded military presence across the de facto border since rebels toppled Bashar Assad.
Israel has pushed beyond areas that the country controls in Golan Heights and captured land in what Israeli officials have previously described as a temporary security measure.