Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday told Israeli troops deployed in Syria in a buffer zone intended to separate the two countries' forces that their presence was hugely important for safeguarding Israel.
When Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was ousted from power in December last year, Israel sent troops into the UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights since 1974.
Netanyahu visited a military outpost in the buffer zone and spoke with troops as he inspected the site, in a visit slammed by Syria.
"We attach immense importance to our capability here, both defensive and offensive," Netanyahu told soldiers in a video released by his office.
He said they were "safeguarding the State of Israel and its northern border opposite the Golan Heights."
"This is a mission that can develop at any moment, but we are counting on you," he added.
Damascus called the visit "a new attempt to impose a fait accompli that contradicts relevant Security Council resolutions."
Syria "condemns in the strongest terms the illegal visit... considering it a serious violation of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
"Syria reiterates its firm demand that the Israeli occupation withdraw from Syrian territory and affirms that all measures the occupation has taken in southern Syria are null and void and have no legal effect according to international law," it added.
Netanyahu was accompanied by Defense Minister Israel Katz and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, as well as military chief Eyal Zamir, the Shin Bet security agency's director David Zini, and Israel's ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter.
Netanyahu met with regular and reserve soldiers, "observed the sector, and later held a security discussion," his office said.
Video footage released by the Israeli government showed Netanyahu stepping out from the back of a helicopter and being shown to a waiting vehicle.
He was also seen talking to troops in a lookout position.
Sharaa's U.S. Trip
Netanyahu's visit came the week after Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa, once a jihadist detained in Iraq by US forces, met American President Donald Trump at the White House for unprecedented talks.
Washington -- Israel's key ally -- has been pushing for a security pact to end decades of enmity between Syria and Israel, part of Trump's goal to shore up the fragile Gaza ceasefire with a broader Middle East peace settlement.
While Syrian and Israeli officials have held repeated rounds of talks, Sharaa has ruled out the possibility of Syria joining the Abraham Accords, under which a handful of Arab countries have normalized ties with Israel.
In an interview with Fox News last week, Sharaa said Syria's ongoing dispute with Israel over the Golan Heights would make entering peace talks difficult.
But he suggested talks facilitated by Trump and Washington could help start negotiations.
Israel captured the Golan Heights, a strategic mountain plateau, from Syria during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and later annexed it, in a move not recognized by most of the international community.
AFP
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