Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will not allow Syria’s new army or the insurgent group that led the ouster of former President Bashar Assad to “enter the area south of Damascus” as his government made clear Israeli forces would stay in parts of southern Syria for an indefinite period.

Thousands of Syrians rallied across the country to protest Israeli PM Netanyahu’s call for demilitarizing southern Syria, decrying his interference in Syrian sovereignty amid escalating Israeli airstrikes [Damascus] – In a display of national unity,

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would not allow forces of the new Syrian army to enter areas south of Damascus. “We demand the full demilitarization of southern Syria,” he said.

In an address Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Syria’s new rulers should demilitarize the Quneitra, Daraa and Suwayda provinces.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz warned the new regime in Damascus on Saturday evening that if it harms the Druze community in Syria, Israel will retaliate. “We will not allow the terrorist regime of radical Islam in Syria to harm the Druze.