Israel attacks Syria's capital as troops seize buffer zone in Golan Heights

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Israel has attacked Syria from the air and on ground, opening another front in its regional war as its neighbour tries to cope with the sudden collapse of its government.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced its military has temporarily seized control of a buffer zone in the Golan Heights established by a 1974 ceasefire agreement with Syria. During a visit to the Israel-Syria border area, Mr Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes in Gaza, said the 1974 border agreement with Syria had “collapsed” after the fall of the Bashar Al Assad regime.

Mr Netanyahu said he had directed the military to “seize the buffer zone and the commanding positions” nearby. “We will not allow any hostile force to establish itself on our border,” he said.

According to reports, Syrian troops left their positions in Quneitra province, inside the buffer zone, and on Sunday Israeli troops told residents of five Syrian villages inside the zone to stay in their homes until further notice. Israel captured a portion of the Golan Heights in the 1967 war and annexed it unilaterally in 1981, which is illegal according to international law.

Israeli Foreign Minster Gideon Sa'ar on Monday said Israel "took some territories near the border in order not to be surprised by an October 7 on the Syrian border", a reference to the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel last year.

"I emphasise that it is a very limited and temporary step we took for security reasons," he added. Mr Sa'ar said Israel will "continue our obligations" regarding a 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria, despite deploying troops in the region. "The facts are that the Syrian army had vanished from this border. The disengagement agreement was violated. Militias or armed people entered."

"We take this framework as a valid framework to the future as much as we hope it will be possible. If it is breached from the other side, there will be consequences."

Israeli military chief of staff Lt Gen Herzi Halevi told the Golani Brigade that Israel has been “engaged in combat on four fronts”, referring to Israel's war in Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon and now in Syria.

Israel has launched strikes in Syria but intensified the attacks after the abrupt fall of the Syrian government. On Sunday, it conducted air strikes in the Syrian capital Damascus on a reported security complex and a government research centre, which it said was used by Iran to build missiles.

The attack caused extensive damage to the main customs headquarters and buildings adjoining the military intelligence offices within the security complex, which is located in the Kafr Sousa district, reports said. Israeli officials have expressed concern that chemical weapons and other prohibited munitions and missiles that Syria had kept for decades could now fall into the hands of the Islamist-led forces who stormed into Damascus on Sunday.

Earlier on Sunday, Israel struck at least seven targets in south-west Syria that included the Khalkhala airbase north of Suwadya city that Syrian army troops withdrew from last night, the sources said. The Israeli military said the army had left behind large stockpile of missiles, air defence batteries and munitions that were hit on Sunday.

"We attacked strategic weapons systems like remaining chemical weapons systems and long-range missiles and rockets in order that they will not fall in the hand of extremists," Mr Sa'ar said.

Strikes near Mezzeh military airport south-west of the capital hit other ammunition depots, according to media reports.