Katz says Israel to stay in Syria security zone
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday that Israel would maintain its presence in Syria’s security zone and continue monitoring threats along its northern border.
Katz made the remarks in a video filmed from the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, where he visited an Israeli military position alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We will not move from the security zone we control in Syria,” Katz said, adding that Israel would continue defending the occupied Golan Heights.
Katz said the visit was intended to send a “strong and clear” message to Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, whom he said was about 35 kilometers away in Damascus. He reiterated that Israeli forces would remain at Mount Hermon and in the security zone.
“We will not move from here,” Katz said, citing the need to protect Israel from what he described as jihadist threats from across the border and from armed groups operating inside Syria.
He added that Israeli forces were operating nightly to prevent what he described as the establishment of “jihadist infrastructure,” saying the operations were intended to protect communities in the Golan Heights and Galilee.
Netanyahu, who visited the same position with Katz, said Israel controlled the area from the summit of Mount Hermon to the Yarmouk River and vowed not to allow what he called a “terror army” to establish itself along Israel’s border.
Israel has maintained troops inside and beyond the former U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December 2024. Israel has described the deployment as a temporary security measure, while Damascus has condemned it as a violation of Syrian sovereignty and the 1974 Disengagement Agreement.
The statements came a day after a U.N. Commission of Inquiry warned that Israel’s increasingly sustained military activity in southern Syria, including ground incursions, patrols, raids and the construction of military infrastructure, could amount to violations of international law. The commission also said it had identified 49 Syrians detained by Israeli forces on Syrian territory, including two children.