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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conducted a high-profile visit on Wednesday to Israeli military forces stationed within an occupied buffer area inside Syrian territory. The trip, marking his third official tour of the area since late 2024, immediately triggered vehement condemnation from the Syrian government in Damascus, which described the tour as an unlawful and aggressive provocation.
Standing alongside Defence Minister Israel Katz on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon along the frontier, Netanyahu used the visit to comment on regional security and the ongoing US-Israeli military campaign against Iran. The prime minister asserted that Tehran's governing apparatus is teetering on the edge of defeat, declaring that Israel's broader operational objectives in the region are nearing realization.
Netanyahu told troops that significant efforts remain underway, highlighting that the primary strategic goal is the dismantling of the Iranian leadership. He expressed confidence that the entire regional network of Tehran-backed armed movements is destined to fall, framing the Israeli military posture along the northern frontier as an indispensable element in confronting that broader alliance.
During the same border tour, Defence Minister Katz delivered a sharply worded video statement directly targeted at Syria's current head of state, President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Standing on the elevated slopes of Mount Hermon, Katz highlighted Israel's strategic vantage point over the Syrian capital and reaffirmed that the Israeli military has no intention of withdrawing from the area.
Katz stated that the military presence was designed to send an unmistakable message to the Syrian president, pointing out that Damascus sits merely 35 kilometres away from their forward position. He insisted that Israeli troops intend to maintain their positions across the designated security zone indefinitely, ruling out any pullback from the contested mountain terrain.
In addition to his remarks aimed at the Syrian leadership, Katz issued direct warnings toward Tehran. He noted that Israeli forces have already struck Iran twice during the current confrontation, warning that Israel would not hesitate to launch a third wave of military strikes should it deem further intervention necessary to neutralize emerging security threats.
The diplomatic response from Damascus was swift and hostile. Syria’s foreign ministry issued a strongly worded communique denouncing what it termed an illegal entry by the Israeli prime minister into sovereign Syrian territory, describing the inspection of Mount Hermon as a direct infringement on international law.
Syrian officials condemned the excursion as a flagrant breach of the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. The foreign ministry maintained that the presence of high-ranking Israeli officials in the border region represents an intentional provocation intended to aggravate tensions across the shared frontier.
The contested territory where the troops are positioned formed part of a United Nations-supervised buffer zone established in 1974. For five decades, that demilitarized corridor functioned to separate Israeli and Syrian armed forces across the occupied Golan Heights under international monitoring mechanisms.
That status quo shifted dramatically following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's government in December 2024. In the wake of the Syrian regime's fall, Israeli ground forces pushed beyond the longstanding lines and occupied the buffer zone, transforming it into a forward operational security corridor.
Defending the continuous deployment, Netanyahu reiterated Wednesday that Israel will not tolerate the establishment of hostile militant forces along its northern borders. Israeli authorities have repeatedly framed the forward military presence as an essential defensive buffer to prevent hostile actors from organizing adjacent to Israeli communities.
Wednesday’s tour represents Netanyahu’s third documented visit to the occupied Syrian strip. His first trip occurred in December 2024, shortly after Israeli units moved into the buffer zone, followed by a second tour in November 2025. Defence Minister Katz had also conducted a separate inspection of the troops deployed in southern Syria approximately two weeks earlier, which similarly drew protests from Damascus.
The current friction reflects the profound transformation of Syria's political and geopolitical landscape following the end of the Assad dynasty. For decades under Hafez al-Assad and his son Bashar, Syria maintained a steadfast strategic partnership with Iran, acting as a regional hub for pro-Tehran militias and logistical networks until the government's collapse.
Following the rise of Islamist leadership under President Sharaa, the long-standing Damascus-Tehran axis dissolved. Despite that strategic break, Israel has maintained an assertive posture, carrying out hundreds of aerial strikes across Syrian territory and launching repeated cross-border ground incursions to target potential threats.
Israeli military officials have continually asserted that their operational intent is to secure a broader demilitarized perimeter throughout southern Syria. As top Israeli leaders continue to inspect forward outposts on Mount Hermon, the standoff between Israel's fortified positions and the Syrian government in Damascus remains a central flashpoint in the broader regional conflict.
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