JERUSALEM, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israeli troops inside Syria on Wednesday and said Israel had "absolute control" over a swathe of territory stretching from Mount Hermon to the Yarmouk River, while pledging to bring down Iran's government.
"We control the entire area from the summit of Mount Hermon to the Yarmouk, and from here to the Mediterranean Sea -- absolute control unlike anything we have had before," Netanyahu said in a video released by his office.
Netanyahu, accompanied by Defense Minister Israel Katz and Deputy Chief of Staff Tamir Yadai, said Israel would not allow what he called a "terror army" to establish itself on its border.
He added that Israel was "very close" to defeating Iran's government and was committed to doing so.
Israeli troops moved into a United Nations-monitored buffer zone and other areas of southern Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's government in December 2024 and have remained there since. Syria has repeatedly demanded their withdrawal.
A United Nations commission said this week that Israel's increasingly entrenched military presence in southern Syria amounted to a "belligerent occupation" and that some Israeli actions there may constitute war crimes. Israel rejected the findings and said its presence was a temporary security measure. ■
