Netanyahu visits troops in occupied Syria as Damascus slams 'blatant violation' of sovereignty

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once again claimed during a visit to Israeli troops in occupied southern Syria on Wednesday that Iran's Islamic republic was on the verge of collapse, as fighting in the six-month Middle East war intensifies. "There is still work to be done – the main task is to bring down the terror regime in Iran. We are very close to that," he said on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon on the Israel-Syria border during a visit with Defence Minister Israel Katz. "We know that the entire axis will ultimately collapse," he added, referring to Iran-backed armed groups across the Middle East. In southern Syria, Israeli troops have been stationed in a so-called security zone since they pushed deeper into the country following the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. They occupy what was previously a buffer zone patrolled by the United Nations that had separated Israeli and Syrian forces in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights since 1974. "We will not allow any terrorist army to establish itself on our border," Netanyahu reiterated on Wednesday. His trip across the border drew condemnation from Damascus, which slammed it as inflammatory and a vio...