Israel army chief vows to block Syria border threats

Israel's army chief said during a visit to an Israeli-occupied security zone in southern Syria that the military would not allow hostile forces to establish themselves on Israel's border.

Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir told troops on Wednesday that Israel was monitoring changes on the Syrian front and would use its operational capabilities “where and when needed.” He said Israel remained in a multi-front war and had to stay ready because escalation could develop in any arena.

Israeli forces have been stationed in a security zone in southern Syria since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024. The area was previously a UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces in the Israeli-occupied Golan since 1974.

Zamir's visit came a day after Israel bombed the Abu Duhur air base in Idlib province in northwestern Syria. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Damascus of violating an agreement by accepting Turkish troops at the base, but stopped short of acknowledging Israeli responsibility.

Turkey rejected the allegation. US ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack condemned the strikes as an “unnecessary escalation.” Syria's foreign ministry condemned what it called Israeli airstrikes on the base as an unjustified act of aggression and urged UN Security Council action.

Despite tensions, Israel and Syria's new authorities have held several rounds of direct talks and have agreed to establish an intelligence-sharing mechanism. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said last week that Israel planned to keep troops in Syria.

Israel captured most of the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and later annexed the areas under its control, a move not recognised internationally except by the United States and Colombia.