Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the Israeli army will remain in areas it describes as “security zones” inside Syrian territory, along with areas in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, “until further notice.”
The minister’s position reflects the Israeli government’s insistence on continuing the deployment of its forces inside southern Syria, despite growing Arab condemnations of the latest military incursions in the governorates of Daraa and Quneitra in southern Syria.
Katz said on Wednesday, July 1, during a memorial ceremony for Israeli soldiers killed in the 2006 Lebanon War, that “the Israeli army will remain in the security zones in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza until further notice, in order to protect our residents and our communities from jihadist elements,” adding, “We will not withdraw from the security zones.”
The Israeli defense minister’s statement, reported by Agence France-Presse, came as Israel continues to reinforce its military presence in southern Syria after repeated incursions into the countryside of Daraa and Quneitra, amid official Syrian rejection and Arab condemnations that described the moves as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty and an escalation threatening regional stability.
Katz did not set a timetable for any possible withdrawal from the territories where Israeli forces are deployed. He also repeated his warning to Iran, saying it would face “strikes with full force” if it targeted Israeli forces deployed in Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that his country’s forces would remain in Lebanon as long as Hezbollah continued to pose a threat to residents of northern Israel, while Israeli officials link any withdrawal from southern Lebanon to the group’s disarmament.
Israeli Deployment Inside Southern Syria
The Israeli military presence in southern Syria expanded after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in late 2024, as Israel pushed its forces into areas outside the demilitarized buffer zone in the Golan Heights. Its deployment reached Mount Hermon and several former military sites that had belonged to the Syrian regime.
In recent months, the countryside of Daraa and Quneitra has witnessed a series of repeated incursions that included the establishment of new military points and the opening of roads linking sites seized by Israeli forces, as well as raids and gunfire in several border villages.
Arab Condemnations and Displacement After Incursion
Katz’s statements came after a wave of Arab condemnations following the latest Israeli incursions in the governorates of Daraa and Quneitra, which were accompanied by artillery shelling that hit civilian areas.
On the ground, the town of Abdeen in western Daraa (southern Syria) witnessed the displacement of about 60% of its residents on June 29, according to the Daraa Media Directorate, after artillery shelling coincided with the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the town’s outskirts.
The directorate added that residents returned to their homes the following morning after the situation calmed, while fears continued over the recurrence of incursions and the accompanying restrictions on movement and access to agricultural land.
It also reported that Israeli forces withdrew from two military points they had established around the town, while maintaining their position at a military point near the town of Maariya, after firing artillery shells and flares during the withdrawal.
An Israeli patrol made up of four vehicles entered the village of Abdeen in the Yarmouk Basin area on June 28, set up military checkpoints, and opened fire, prompting residents to gather in the area, according to Enab Baladi’s correspondent in Daraa.
The correspondent added that United Nations forces tried to intervene, but the Israeli patrol did not respond before withdrawing to the Tal al-Mughr site, which Israeli forces had seized after the fall of the Syrian regime and later connected to the Tal al-Jazira site through a military road.
The neighboring village of Jamlah also witnessed another Israeli force entering the area, setting up military checkpoints, and cutting the road between Jamlah and Abdeen, in the first public daytime movement of its kind after previous Israeli movements had been limited to repeated nighttime operations.
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