Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Israeli troops who seized strategic ground in southern Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad will remain on the summit of Mount Hermon indefinitely, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday after visiting troops there.

Katz said Israel would not allow what he described as hostile forces to establish themselves in southern Syria.

Mount Hermon, a huge cluster of snowcapped mountain peaks towering above the Syria-Lebanon border, overlooks the Damascus countryside as well as the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war.

Israel says its troops have taken up positions inside a UN-monitored demilitarized zone within Syria, and some have ventured beyond it. Israeli officials have previously said that the moves were limited and temporary, to ensure the security of Israeli borders.