Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will not allow Syria’s new army or the insurgent group that led the ouster of former President Bashar Assad to “enter the area south of Damascus”

Protests erupted across southern Syria in response, with civilians condemning Netanyahu’s remarks as interference in Syrian sovereignty. Demonstrators called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the buffer zone along the Syrian border and rejected any foreign military presence in the region.

Speaking to cadets graduating from the IDF Ground Forces combat officers course, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warns that Israel is ... the new Syrian army to move into territory south of Damascus,” he insists. “We demand full demilitarization ...

Instruction comes as new Syrian government authorities clash with local Druze gunmen in Jaramana, just outside capital The post Netanyahu and Katz direct IDF to ‘prepare to defend’ Syrian Druze suburb of Damascus appeared first on The Times of Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel will keep its positions there as a defensive measure and for as long as is necessary. "We will not allow forces of the HTS or the new Syrian army to enter the territory south of Damascus.

Hundreds protested the remarks as a prelude to ‘dividing Syria,’ while some welcomed ‘any helping hand for the Druze community.’

Israeli warplanes late Tuesday struck military sites in southern Syria, the Israel Defense Forces said, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to demilitarize the border region.

PM Netanyahu has demanded the ‘full demilitarisation’ of southern Syria, where Israel has illegally expanded its forces.