Israel to keep indefinite presence in Syria's Mount Hermon, buffer zone

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel will maintain an indefinite military presence at the peak of Mount Hermon and in the buffer zone along the Syrian border, reported Xinhua.

The Israel Defense Forces "will remain at the top of Mount Hermon and the buffer zone indefinitely to protect our settlements and thwart any threat," said Netanyahu at an officers' course graduation ceremony in Holon city, south of Tel Aviv.

Netanyahu called on Syria's new government to implement a "full demilitarization" of southern Syria, including the provinces of Quneitra, Daraa, and As-Suwayda.

He also warned that Israel "would not permit" forces affiliated with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a militant group led by Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, or the new Syrian army to enter the area south of Damascus.

In December, following the fall of Bashar al-Assad's government, Israel deployed ground forces into the buffer zone, a demilitarized area between the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights and Syria. The buffer zone is monitored by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), which was established under the 1974 Agreement on Disengagement. Israel later captured the Syrian-controlled side of Mount Hermon.