Israeli denies its forces have gone past Syria buffer zone

DAMASCUS - Israel denied on Tuesday that its forces had penetrated into Syrian territory beyond the buffer zone with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, after Syrian sources said the incursion had extended to within 25 km (15 miles) of the capital Damascus.

Israeli troops moved into the buffer zone established following the 1973 Middle East war as the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad collapsed at the weekend in the face of rebel forces advancing from the north.

Israel's move, accompanied by a series of heavy airstrikes, saw special forces seize abandoned outposts on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, a strategic point that overlooks the Syrian capital in what Israeli officials called a limited and temporary measure to ensure the security of their borders.

One Syrian security source said Israeli troops had reached the town of Qatana, southwest of Damascus, to the east of the demilitarized zone, but an Israeli military spokesperson denied that.

"The reports circulating in the media about the alleged advancement of Israeli tanks towards Damascus are false," an Israeli military official said. "IDF troops are stationed within the buffer zone, as stated in the past."

Officials say Israel, which has just agreed a ceasefire in Lebanon following weeks of fighting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement there, does not seek conflict with the new entity in control of Damascus.

But Israeli jets have struck targets across Syria since the weekend in an apparent bid to ensure Syrian military equipment, including combat aircraft, missiles and chemical weapons, does not fall into rebel hands.

Israel welcomed the fall of Assad, an ally of its main enemy Iran, but has reacted cautiously to the leading rebel faction, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which has roots in Islamist movements including al Qaeda and Islamic State.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel would use all the tools it had to ensure its security following Assad's fall.

Reporting by Maya Gebeily and Suleiman Al-Khalidi and James Mackenzie; editing by Tom Hogue and Mark Heinrich)