Israel redeploying troops from Gaza to Syrian frontier: Military official

An Israeli military official said on Wednesday that some troops stationed in the Gaza Strip were to be redeployed to the area of the frontier with Syria, where Israel has struck claiming to defend the Druze minority.

The military official told reporters during a briefing that some soldiers were “preparing to be deployed on our northern border with Syria” from Gaza, where Israel has been fighting Hamas militants since the Palestinian group’s October 2023 attack.

Israeli troops on Wednesday sought to control crowds and prevent Druze from crossing the border with Syria, after deadly violence in the country’s south that prompted Damascus to send in government forces.

Tensions have mounted after Syria’s government deployed troops to quell several days of unrest between Druze and Bedouin fighters in the Sweida area of southern Syria, which borders Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in February that southern Syria must be completely demilitarized and that Israel would not accept the presence of Damascus’s new government near its territory.