Israel says it will impose 'sterile defence zone' in southern Syria

JERUSALEM/DAMASCUS (Reuters): Israel has ordered its forces to create a "sterile defence zone" in southern Syria that would be enforced without a permanent Israeli presence as it tightens its hold along the line between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday.

He gave no details but said the zone, would "prevent the establishment and organization of terror in Syria" after the collapse of the government of President Bashar al-Assad at the weekend ended over five decades of his family's rule.

"We will not allow this, we will not allow threats to the state of Israel," Katz said following a visit to a naval base in the northern Israeli port of Haifa.

Earlier, a military spokesperson said Israeli troops remained in the demilitarized buffer zone in Syrian territory created after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war as well as "a few additional points" outside the separation area.

But he denied that forces had penetrated Syrian territory significantly beyond the zone, after Syrian sources said the incursion had extended to within 25 km (15 miles) of the capital Damascus.

"IDF forces are not advancing towards Damascus. This is not something we are doing or pursuing in any way," Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, the military spokesperson, told a briefing with reporters.

Israeli media reported that the air force had carried out as many as 250 sorties as war planes struck a string of targets across Syria since the weekend. The operation, which appears to have been one of its biggest in years, aimed to ensure Syrian military equipment, including combat aircraft, missiles and chemical weapons, does not fall into rebel hands.

"I authorized the air force to bomb strategic military capabilities left by the Syrian army, so that they would not fall into the hands of the jihadists."

In addition to the airstrikes, Katz said Israeli missile ships had destroyed a Syrian military fleet in an operation on Monday night that British security firm Ambrey said targeted at least six vessels in the Syrian port of Latakia.