Israel says its troops in Syria will remain atop Mt Hermon indefinitely

(Reuters) - 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, Defence 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 Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war.

Israel says its troops have taken up positions inside a U.N.-monitored demilitarised 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.

Israel's move into Syrian territory has been criticised as a violation of international agreements by a number of countries and the United Nations, which has called for the troops to be withdrawn.

(Reporting by Menna Alaa El-Din and Alexander Cornwell; writing by Nayera Abdallah, Menna Alaa El-Din and Alexander Cornwell; Editing by Mark Heinrich, Peter Graff)

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