Druze women walk near the fence leading into the UN-patrolled buffer zone, which separates Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights. AFP
As rebel forces swept Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad out of power last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered troops to seize the demilitarised zone between the two countries' forces on the Syrian Golan Heights.
On Sunday, his office said the government approved a plan to double the population of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The government "unanimously approved" the 40 million shekel ($11 million) "plan for the demographic development of the Golan... in light of the war and the new front in Syria and the desire to double the population", Netanyahu's office said.
Israel has occupied most of the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau, since 1967 and then annexed that area in 1981, a move not recognised by the international community.
Netanyahu said that "the strengthening of the Golan is that of the State of Israel, and it is particularly important at this time. We will continue to establish ourselves there, develop it and settle there".
The occupied Golan is home to around 23,000 Druze Arabs, whose presence predates the occupation and most of whom retain Syrian citizenship.
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar swiftly denounced the Israeli invasion as a new occupation.
Riyadh's foreign ministry expressed "condemnation and denunciation" of the plan in a statement, calling it part of the "continued sabotage of opportunities to restore security and stability in Syria".
Doha said the Israeli declaration was a "new episode in a series of Israeli aggressions on Syrian territories and a blatant violation of international law".
'For eternity'
Last week, Netanyahu declared that the occupied Golan would be Israeli "for eternity".
That followed an order he gave for troops to cross into the UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces since 1974. Troops have also operated in some areas outside the buffer zone "to maintain stability", according to the military.
Israel portrayed the move, which drew international condemnation, as a temporary and defensive measure after what Netanyahu's office called a "vacuum on Israel's border and in the buffer zone", following Assad's fall.
A UN official in New York confirmed to AFP that the peacekeeping force UNDOF "has noted several daily instances of the IDF (Israeli army) operating to the east of the buffer zone".
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has ordered troops to "prepare to remain" in the buffer zone throughout the winter months.
In the aftermath of Assad's overthrow, Israel launched hundreds of strikes on Syria targeting all military sites and weapons and other civil infrastructures, including bridges.
On Sunday, the Israeli premier said his country had "no interest in confronting Syria. Israel's policy toward Syria will be determined by the evolving reality on the ground".
The rebel leader whose group spearheaded the offensive that toppled Assad on Saturday accused Israel of "a new unjustified escalation in the region" by entering the buffer zone.
However, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who now goes by his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, said that "the general exhaustion in Syria after years of war and conflict does not allow us to enter new conflicts".
Washington in 2019 became the first and only country to recognise Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, during Trump's first term.
Israel has previously announced plans to increase the number of settlers in the Golan, with the government of then-premier Naftali Bennett approving a $317 million, five-year programme to double the settler population in December 2021.
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