White House Signals Approval of Israeli Seizure of Buffer Zone inside Syria

Israeli soldiers open a gate at the security fence between Israel and Syria, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 10 December 2024. (EPA)
Israeli soldiers open a gate at the security fence between Israel and Syria, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 10 December 2024. (EPA)
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White House Signals Approval of Israeli Seizure of Buffer Zone inside Syria

Israeli soldiers open a gate at the security fence between Israel and Syria, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 10 December 2024. (EPA)
Israeli soldiers open a gate at the security fence between Israel and Syria, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 10 December 2024. (EPA)

The White House is signaling its approval of Israel’s strikes against Syrian military and alleged chemical weapons targets and the seizure of a buffer zone in the Syrian Golan Heights after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad's government.

"These are exigent operations to eliminate what they believe are imminent threats to their national security," White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday, saying the US would leave it up to the Israelis to discuss details of their operations.

"They have as always the right to defend themselves," Kirby said. He declined to detail and US intelligence cooperation with the Israelis that went into the strikes.

Kirby said the White House was reasserting its support of the 1974 Golan Heights disengagement agreement, but didn’t criticize the Israeli seizure of the demilitarized zone.

Israel has a long history of seizing territory during wars with its neighbors and occupying it indefinitely, citing security concerns. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally, except by the United States.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israeli forces were moving to control a roughly 400-square-kilometer (155-square-mile) demilitarized buffer zone in Syrian territory.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia have condemned the incursion, accusing it of exploiting the disarray in Syria and violating international law.

Türkiye "strongly" condemned Israel’s advance into Syrian territory, saying it was in violation of the 1974 agreement.

"We strongly condemn Israel’s violation of the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement, its entry into the separation zone between Israel and Syria, and its advance into Syrian territory," Türkiye’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry accused Israel of "displaying a mentality of an occupier" at a time when the possibility of peace and stability had emerged in Syria. The statement also reiterated Türkiye’s support to Syria’s "sovereignty, political unity, and territorial integrity."



Lebanon Health Ministry Says One Dead in Israeli Strike in South 

Mourners attend the funeral of Hezbollah fighters, killed before the November 27 ceasefire with Israel, in southern Lebanese village of al-Taybeh, near the border with Israel on April 6, 2025. (AFP)
Mourners attend the funeral of Hezbollah fighters, killed before the November 27 ceasefire with Israel, in southern Lebanese village of al-Taybeh, near the border with Israel on April 6, 2025. (AFP)
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Lebanon Health Ministry Says One Dead in Israeli Strike in South 

Mourners attend the funeral of Hezbollah fighters, killed before the November 27 ceasefire with Israel, in southern Lebanese village of al-Taybeh, near the border with Israel on April 6, 2025. (AFP)
Mourners attend the funeral of Hezbollah fighters, killed before the November 27 ceasefire with Israel, in southern Lebanese village of al-Taybeh, near the border with Israel on April 6, 2025. (AFP)

Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli strike in the country's south killed one person Monday, the latest such raid despite a delicate truce between Israel and Hezbollah, and after a US envoy visited.

The "Israeli enemy" drone strike on the town of al-Taybeh near the border "led to the death of one citizen", the health ministry said in a statement.

An Israeli security source said the Israeli military "struck a Hezbollah terrorist" in the Taybeh area.

The official National News Agency (NNA) said the strike hit "in front of a motorcycle repair shop" in the town, in south Lebanon's Marjeyoun district.

Israel has continued to launch strikes on Lebanon since a November 27 ceasefire that largely halted more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, including two months of total war.

Lebanon said an Israeli strike on Sunday killed two people in south Lebanon's Zibqin, as the Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah operatives in the area.

Israeli strikes last week also targeted other south Lebanon locations and even Hezbollah's south Beirut bastion.

The NNA also reported Israeli strikes on prefabricated homes in south Lebanon's Naqoura area on Sunday. Such homes have usually been set up for returning residents whose homes were destroyed in the conflict.

The truce accord was based on a UN Security Council resolution that says Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only forces in south Lebanon, and calls for the disarmament of all non-state groups.

Visiting US deputy special envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus discussed the situation in south Lebanon and economic reforms with senior Lebanese officials at the weekend, with talks also addressing Hezbollah's disarmament.

In an interview with Lebanese television channel LBCI broadcast on Sunday, Ortagus said Washington continued to press Lebanon's government "to fully fulfil the cessation of hostilities, and that includes disarming Hezbollah and all militias", adding it should happen "as soon as possible".

Hezbollah was left severely weakened in the latest conflict with Israel.