In Visit to Territory Seized in Syria, Netanyahu Says Troops Will Stay

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday met with military officers in territory Israel recently took control of in Syria, and vowed that Israeli troops would remain in the country for the foreseeable future.

In a statement issued from Mount Hermon, about six miles from the border of the Israeli-held Golan Heights, Mr. Netanyahu said Israeli forces would remain on the mountain “until another arrangement is found that guarantees Israel’s security.”

The prime minister’s trip was likely to be viewed as provocative by Syria’s new leadership, which has criticized Israel’s expanded military presence across the de facto border since rebels toppled President Bashar al-Assad. Israeli forces have pushed beyond areas that the country controls in the Golan Heights and captured land including the summit of Mount Hermon, in what Israeli officials have described as a temporary security measure.

“I am here at the summit of Mount Hermon,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a statement on Tuesday announcing that he was assessing the situation there along with Israel’s defense minister and other top commanders

“It makes me nostalgic,” Mr. Netanyahu added. “I was here 53 years ago with my soldiers in a patrol of the Israel Defense Forces. The place hasn’t changed, it’s the same place, but its importance to Israel’s security has only grown in recent years, and especially in recent weeks with the dramatic events that are happening here below us in Syria.”

On Tuesday, Mr. Netanyahu met with Israel’s defense minister, the Israeli military chief of staff and other officials “on the Hermon ridge,” according to a statement from his office, which said they had reviewed the Israeli military’s deployment in the area “and set guidelines for the future.” His office did not specify whether he had visited areas that Israel captured this month or had stayed in areas Israel occupied after a 1967 war and later annexed.