Israeli military tanks are deployed Sunday near the Israel-Syria border in the occupied Golan Heights. AFP
Israel had already said the day before, as the insurgents swiftly advanced across Syria, that its soldiers had entered the UN-patrolled buffer zone.
On Sunday, the army announced a troop deployment there and in several other places, claiming a "possible entry of armed individuals into the buffer zone".
Israeli forces "will continue to operate as long as necessary in order to preserve the buffer zone and defend Israel", a military statement said.
Since the insurgents coalition, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), began its renewed offensive against Syria's Army on November 27, the army forces have left positions near the Israeli-occupied Golan, according to a war monitor.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said on Saturday that Syrian army forces had withdrawn from positions in Quneitra province, which includes part of the occupied Golan Heights.
Most of the plateau has been occupied since 1967 by Israel.
In 1974 the buffer zone was established, separating the Israeli-occupied and Syrian territories, with UN peacekeepers stationed there since.
A UN Peacekeeping spokesperson said on Saturday that UNDOF personnel had observed "unidentified armed individuals in the area of separation, including approximately 20 who went into one of the mission's positions in the northern part of the area of separation".
The UN spokesperson said that "peacekeepers continue to carry out their mandated activities on the Golan".
On Sunday, Lebanese media outlets reported an Israeli strike on Quneitra targeting an arms depot. The Israeli military declined to comment.
In a separate statement, the Israeli military said schools in the northern Golan Heights, in an area covering four Druze towns, would move to online teaching, also declaring a "closed military zone" in agricultural lands in the area.
Early in Syria's war, which began in 2011 following the repression of anti-government protests, insurgent forces, and militant groups had taken over parts of Quneitra province.
* This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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