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| An Israeli army armored vehicle near the ceasefire line between the Golan Heights and Syria | Photo: Reuters |
Israel wants to expand Jewish settlements in the occupied Golan Heights. The country's government has approved a plan in this regard.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the move was necessary because a "new front" had opened on Israel's border with Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's government to Islamist rebel groups.
Netanyahu also said he wants to double the number of Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights, in a statement Sunday evening local time.
Israel occupied large parts of the Golan Heights after the Six-Day War in 1967. Israel's occupation is illegal under international law.
Assad fled Syria on December 8, facing a rebel offensive. After Assad fled, Israeli forces entered the buffer zone in the Golan Heights, which separates the Golan Heights from Syria.
Israeli forces have justified entering the neutral zone by saying that a change of control in Damascus would mean a "breakdown" of the ceasefire agreement.
While Israeli forces are entering the neutral zone of the Golan Heights, Netanyahu has said his country is not interested in engaging in war with Syria.
Regarding Syria, Netanyahu said, "We will determine Israel's policy on Syria based on reality."
Israel has more than 30 settlements in the Golan Heights, home to about 20,000 people. The settlements are illegal under international law, although Israel objects to this.
The Golan Heights, where Israel is settling, is home to about 20,000 Syrians, mostly Druze Arabs. When Israel occupied the area, the Druze Arabs did not leave their settlements.
Netanyahu said Israel would retain control of the territory, keep it prosperous and stable, but former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert saw no need to expand Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights.
"The prime minister (Netanyahu) has said that we are not interested in escalating the conflict with Syria and we hope that we will not have to fight the new rebels who have taken control of Syria," Olmert told the BBC. "But why are we doing the exact opposite? We have enough problems that need to be solved."
A few days before Netanyahu's remarks, Syria's current leader, Ahmed al-Shara, strongly criticized Israel's ongoing attacks on his country's military installations.
According to statistics from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Israel has carried out more than 450 airstrikes in Syria since December 8. Of these, 75 have been carried out since last Saturday evening.
Al-Shara, better known as Abu Mohammed al-Julani, said Israel was "crossing a red line" and risking escalating tensions in the region.
However, he also said that Syria does not want war with any neighboring country.