JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday that the threats facing Israel from Syria still exist despite the moderate tone of the opposition leaders who ousted President Bashar al-Assad a week ago, amid military moves by his country to confront such threats.
“The immediate risks facing the country have not disappeared, and recent developments in Syria increase the strength of the threat — despite the moderate image that rebel leaders claim to present,” Katz told officials examining the country’s defense budget, according to a statement.
De facto Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said on Saturday that Israel is using false pretexts to justify its attacks on Syria, but that he is not interested in getting into new conflicts while the country focuses on reconstruction.
Al-Sharaa, known as Abu Muhammad al-Julani, leads the Islamist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, which ousted Assad from power last Sunday, ending five decades of family rule.
Israel has since moved to a demilitarized zone inside Syria created after the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, including the Syrian side of the strategic Mount Hermon overlooking Damascus, where its forces have seized an abandoned Syrian military outpost.
Israel, which has said it has no intention of staying there and describes the incursion into Syrian territory as a limited and temporary measure to ensure border security, has also carried out hundreds of strikes on Syrian strategic weapons stockpiles.
It said it was destroying strategic weapons and military infrastructure to prevent their use by opposition groups that ousted Assad from power, some of which emerged from movements linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.
Several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Jordan, condemned what they described as Israel's seizure of a buffer zone in the Golan Heights.
Al-Sharaa said in a published interview, “The war-weary situation in Syria after years of conflict and war does not allow for new confrontations. The priority at this stage is reconstruction and stability, and not being drawn into disputes that may lead to more destruction.” On the website of Syria TV, a channel aligned with the rebels.
He added that diplomatic solutions are the only way to ensure security and stability and that “uncalculated military adventures” are undesirable.
