Israeli soldiers have raided Syrian border villages, sending nervous residents scrambling to their homes, The New York Times reported Saturday. Israeli soldiers have seized the country’s highest peak, set up roadblocks between Syrian towns and now overlook local villages from former Syrian military positions.

The newspaper says that while the stunning fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "closed a chapter in the country's decade-long civil war," it triggered an Israeli incursion into Syria that Israel described as a temporary defensive move to ensure its security.

Thousands of Syrians now live in areas controlled (at least partially) by the Israeli occupation forces, leaving many concerned about how long Israel will remain in these areas. Israeli occupation forces have detained some residents and opened fire during at least two protests against Syrian citizens, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

At least some Syrians now say they fear the Israeli presence could turn into a long-term military occupation.

“We are the only part of the country that couldn’t really celebrate the fall of the Assad regime — because even with the fall of the tyrant, the Israeli army came,” the New York Times quoted a Syrian citizen named Shaher al-Naimi, who lives in the border village of Khan Arnabeh, which was raided by the Israeli army, as saying.

Syria has fought several wars against the Israeli occupation since the establishment of Israel in 1948, the last of which was the October 1973 War, after which the two sides agreed to establish a demilitarized buffer zone guarded by UN peacekeeping forces, which served as a de facto border.

But when Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime fell on Dec. 8, Israeli forces invaded the buffer zone, home to a number of Syrian villages. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the time that the move was temporary “to ensure that no hostile force is positioned near the border with Israel.”

The US administration rejected Israel's demand to withdraw from these territories, repeating the Israeli narrative that it is a temporary presence.