Israel has taken more Syrian territory, justifying the incursion as a temporary move to protect its citizens, but drawing a furious reaction in the region.
Defence minister Israel Katz on Monday said the country’s military was continuing to seize “high ground” inside Syria after the toppling of Bashar al-Assad’s regime on Sunday by a group led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
The movement of tanks and infantry, which extended into and beyond a previously demilitarised buffer zone, was condemned “in the strongest possible terms” by Egypt, which said it amounted to the “occupation of Syrian land” and a “severe breach” of a 1974 armistice deal.