Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that the IDF will remain at the peak of Mount Hermon and in the buffer zone, citing threats from Syria and protecting residents of the Golan Heights.
Katz called the decision “necessary to protect the Golan Heights settlements from threats looming from the Syrian side as a central lesson that we’ve learned from October 7.
“We will continue to protect the Druze in Syria as well,” he added.
The IDF took over the peak almost immediately after the collapse of the former president Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024.
On Monday, a source told The Jerusalem Post that the Trump administration is working to bring about an announcement by Israel and Syria on agreed security arrangements by the time the UN General Assembly convenes in September.
Also on Monday, Syria said that Israel had sent 60 soldiers to take control of an area inside the Syrian border around the mountain, adding that the operation violated its sovereignty and posed a further threat to regional security.
According to Syrian state TV, 11 military vehicles and over 60 IDF soldiers entered the Beit Jinn area, located in southern Syria on the outskirts of Damascus.
Israel issues no comment to Syrian accusation
Israel did not immediately comment on the accusation by Syria’s Foreign Ministry, which comes as the two countries engage in US-mediated talks on de-escalating their conflict in southern Syria.
Last month, Katz told US Senator Ted Cruz that he “didn’t trust” Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, saying that the allegedly reformed Islamist would use “jihadist groups” against Israel in the future.
Amichai Stein and Reuters contributed to this report.