Members of the Druze community pass through a hole in the barbed wire fence at the border in the Golan Heights, annexed by Israel, in July 2025. (Credit: Jalaa Marey/AFP)
Israel places an "immense importance" on its military presence in the buffer zone in Syria, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday during a visit to Israeli soldiers deployed in this area, which is supposed to be demilitarized and under U.N. control.
"We attach an immense importance to our ability, both defensive and offensive here, to the protection of our Druze allies, and above all, to the protection of the State of Israel and its northern border bordering the other side of the Golan," Netanyahu said during the visit, according to a video released by his office.
Following the fall of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, Israel deployed troops in the demilitarized zone on the Golan Heights, beyond the line separating the part of this Syrian territory unilaterally annexed by Israel in 1981 from the rest of Syria.
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