Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Sunday for "southern Syria to be completely demilitarized," saying that Tel Aviv would not allow the new administration's forces to deploy south of the capital, Damascus.

"We will not allow the forces of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham or the new Syrian army to enter the area south of Damascus," Netanyahu said in a speech to a new batch of officers in Holon, south of Tel Aviv.

"We demand complete disarmament in southern Syria," he continued.

"demilitarized zone"

With the fall of Bashar al-Assad on December 8, Israel sent forces to the demilitarized buffer zone in the Golan Heights in southwestern Syria on the borders of the plateau that Israel occupied in 1967 and annexed in 1981.

Netanyahu said that Israeli forces "will remain in the Mount Hermon area and its surroundings for an indefinite period of time to protect our towns and confront any threat."

He added that Israel will maintain its positions there as a defensive measure and as necessary.

Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, Israel has launched hundreds of strikes on military sites of the former regime in Syria, stressing that it wants to prevent the arsenal from falling into the hands of the new administration's forces.

During the Syrian war that broke out in 2011, Israel launched hundreds of strikes targeting the positions of the Syrian army and its allies, especially the Lebanese Hezbollah and Iran.

Syria is demanding that Israel withdraw its forces from the country. The United Nations says that Israel's incursion into Syrian territory is a violation of international agreements and has called for the withdrawal of forces.