Mount Hermon: Why control of Syria's highest peak matters

Israel has occupied the Golan Heights since the 1967 war with Syria.

Between 1974 and 2024 the territory was divided between areas controlled by Israel and areas controlled by Syria, split by a buffer zone.

On Sunday, President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown by rebels, ending the rule of the Baath Party who first seized power in a coup in 1963.

Shortly after, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared the 1974 agreement maintaining the buffer zone in the Golan Heights was null and void.

On Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that Israeli forces had taken over Syrian army positions in parts of Mount Hermon, an area Israel first evacuated in 1974.

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar described the move as "a limited and temporary step we took for security reasons" but Syrian security sources said on Tuesday that Israel had advanced 10km into the country.

Read more: Why control of Mount Hermon, Syria's highest peak, matters