The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out airstrikes in southern Syria on February 25 after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said that southern Syria must be a demilitarized zone.

Hamas hands over the bodies of four Israelis held in Gaza to the Red Cross as part of the last scheduled exchange in the first phase of the ceasefire deal. Simultaneously, the first bus carrying dozens of freed Palestinians prisoners from the Ofer Prison arrives in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

With the new regime in Syria supported by Ankara, and the deployment of Turkish forces, no one in Israel wants to be caught off guard.

Even as tensions between Israel and Syria ramped up in recent days, a small group of Syrian Jews recently celebrated a milestone that once seemed unthinkable: a return visit to their home country. Under the auspices of the new Syrian government,

Hamas was plotting a major attack on Jewish communities Israel Katz revealed on Thursday during a meeting with the heads of regional councils. He also reiterated demands for a demilitarized southern Syria and noted that the government is considering allowing Syrian Druze to work in the Golan.

Israel lobbies US to keep Syria weak, decentralised, sources say Israel supports Russia's military presence in Syria, sources say Israel concerned about Turkey's influence in Syria BEIRUT/WASHINGTON,

The Israeli military is targeting more areas of southern Syria, and Israel is lobbying world powers to keep the central government in Damascus weak.

The latest attacks came a week after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel demanded the demilitarization of much of southern Syria, stoking fears of conflict with the country’s new leadership.

A prominent Druze leader in Lebanon has said that he will soon visit Syria to meet its interim leader as tensions simmer between members of the minority group, the war-torn country’s interim government,

There have been no major clashes between Israeli troops and Syria's new forces. “We will not allow the terrorist regime of radical Islam in Syria to harm the Druze. If the regime harms the Druze, it will be harmed by us,

Israel is lobbying the United States to keep Syria weak and decentralised, including by letting Russia keep its military bases there to counter Turkey's growing influence in the country, four sources familiar with the efforts said.