ANKARA

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday evening that his army will stay in Syria’s buffer zone “indefinitely.”

Addressing a press conference in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu said Israeli army forces will remain on the Syrian Hermon Mount "Jabal al-Sheikh" for "an unlimited period of time."

“We demand full demilitarization of southern Syria from troops of the new Syrian regime in the Quneitra, Daraa and Suweyda provinces,” Netanyahu said.

“We will not allow the new Syrian army to move into territory south of Damascus,” he said, claiming that Israel will not tolerate any threats to Druze in southern Syria.

After the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December, Israel expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarized buffer zone, a move that violated the 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria.

The Israeli army also intensified airstrikes targeting Syrian military positions across the country.

Israel’s recent military advances in the Golan Heights, which it has occupied since 1967, have drawn condemnation from the United Nations and several Arab nations.

Netanyahu said that the Israeli army will continue to occupy several outposts in southern Lebanon “until the Lebanese army and Lebanese government fulfill all of their commitments according to the agreement."

A ceasefire agreement has been in place in Lebanon since Nov. 27, ending months of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah that escalated into a full-scale conflict in September.

Occupation

Under the ceasefire deal, Israel was supposed to fully withdraw from southern Lebanon by Jan. 26, but the deadline was extended to Feb. 18 after Israel refused to comply.

The Israeli army withdrew from southern Lebanese towns last week but maintained a military presence at five border outposts.

On the Israeli military situation in the occupied West Bank, Netanyahu said the army will stay in Palestinian cities "as long as it takes."

The Israeli army deployed tanks in the northern West Bank early Sunday, marking the first time since 2002 amid military escalation in the occupied territory.

The army has been conducting military operations in the northern West Bank since last month, killing at least 61 people and displacing thousands.

The raids were the latest in Israel’s ongoing military escalation in the West Bank where at least 923 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 7,000 injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers since the start of the onslaught against the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.