ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today signalled Israel’s intention to permanently remain in the buffer zone at Syria’s border, claiming it would need to remain as a guarantee of security.

After the overthrow of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Israeli forces invaded the zone near the Golan Heights, established after the 1973 Middle East war. 

The military says it has seized additional strategic points nearby.

In a statement on Thursday, Mr Netanyahu’s office said that the overthrow of president Assad by jihadis created a vacuum on the border.

“Israel will not permit jihadi groups to fill that vacuum and threaten Israeli communities on the Golan Heights with October 7-style attacks,” it said, referring to Hamas’s 2023 surprise attack out of Gaza, which prompted Israel’s invasion.

“That is why Israeli forces entered the buffer zone and took control of strategic sites near Israel’s border.”

The international community, except for the United States, views the Golan Heights as occupied Syrian territory.

Meanwhile, Israel’s air force has continued to mount heavy bombing raids on Syria, striking ports and missile warehouses in Latakia and Tartous, as their ground troops expand their occupation.

Since the fall of president Assad, Israel has reportedly hit more than 500 targets.

Daniel Levy, a former Israeli negotiator and president of the US/Middle East Project, says Israel is taking advantage of the moment to “debilitate” any future Syrian authority “of its ability to defend itself.”

He told the Al Jazeera network: “I think the signal Israel thinks it’s sending is: ‘We’re here. We’re the regional policemen. We can act with impunity’.”

Meanwhile, Turkey says it is taking steps against “terrorist” groups trying to exploit the security situation in Syria.

The spokesperson for Turkey’s Ministry of National Defence, Zeki Akturk, told a news conference in the capital Ankara that “Turkey is taking preventive, destructive measures against terrorist groups that are trying to gain ground by taking advantage of the situation threatening the security of Syria and our region.” 

The reference is to ongoing fighting against the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, who control territory in north-eastern Syria.

Turkey, which opposes an independent Kurdish state near its borders, views the SDF’s main Kurdish faction as a terrorist group and has funded Syrian rebel fighters, known as the Syrian National Army, to oppose them.