The Israeli military said Sunday it also sent troops to “other places necessary for its defense,” and that the force deployment was meant to provide security for residents of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
It added it was “not interfering with the internal events in Syria.”
Israel captured that territory from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed it, a move not recognized by much of the international community.
A later ceasefire agreement created a demilitarized buffer zone between the two countries’ territories, prohibiting military presence or activity from either side in the area. United Nations peacekeepers have patrolled the area since 1974.
