Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister, said on Tuesday that Israeli troops will remain in the buffer zone along the Syrian border, which was seized following the ouster Bashar al-Assad as President of Syria, until a new arrangement “that guarantees Israel’s safety” is made.

Netanyahu made his comments on the summit of Mount Hermon, the highest peak within the region — about 10 km (6 miles) away from the border between Israel and the Golan Heights.

This was the first time that a sitting Israeli president had stepped into Syria. Netanyahu claimed he was on the same mountaintop as a soldier 53 years ago, but its importance for Israel’s safety has increased in light of recent events.

Israel seized a large area of southern Syria, along the border with Israel’s Golan Heights, days after Assad had been ousted by rebels.

Israel’s capture the buffer zone in Syria, a 400-square kilometer (155 square miles) demilitarized region, has sparked criticism. Critics accuse Israel of violating a ceasefire in 1974 and exploiting the chaos that followed Assad’s removal to grab land.

Netanyahu, who was in the buffer zone with Israel Katz on Tuesday, said: “We will remain… until we find another arrangement that guarantees Israel’s safety.”

Katz stated that he had instructed the Israeli army to establish a rapid presence in the region, including fortifications in anticipation of an extended stay. “The summit is Israel’s eyes to identify its enemies, both near and far,” Katz said.

According to an Israeli official who spoke under the condition of anonymity, in accordance with military regulations and the rules, there is no plan for the evacuation of Syrians in villages located within the buffer zone.

After the 1973 Mideast War, the U.N. created a buffer zone between Syria’s Golan Heights and Israel’s Golan Heights. Since then, a U.N. force consisting of approximately 1,100 soldiers has patrolled the area.

The U.N. spokesperson said that Israel’s advance, no matter how long it continues, is a violation of the agreement that established the buffer zone.

The agreement “must be respected and occupation is occupation. Whether it lasts for a week or a month, it’s still occupation,” Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman, said.

No immediate comments were made by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or Arab states.

Israel controls the Golan Height, which it captured in 1967 from Syria and annexed – a move that is not recognized by the majority of the international community. Mount Hermon is split between Israel’s annexed Golan Heights and Lebanon and Syria. Only the United States acknowledges Israel’s control over the Golan Heights.

A top U.N. official stated Tuesday that with Assad gone militant leaders have taken control of Syria and have pledged to “an ambitious scale-up of essential humanitarian support” in order to help millions of people who are desperately in need of food, clothing, and other aid.

Tom Fletcher reported that the leader of HTS, Ahmad al-Sharaa (formerly Mohammed al-Golani), and the caretaker premier, Mohammed al-Bashir pledged to continue supporting the flow of humanitarian aid from Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, as well as other countries in the region, “as long as humanitarian missions are needed.”

Fletcher, the head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), spoke via video link to the U.N. Security Council from Damascus.

Germany announced Tuesday that its diplomats met with insurgents to discuss Syria’s transitional political process and “our expectations concerning the protection of women and minorities.”

German officials have said that they will judge the group, and the new government, based on their actions. They noted that the rebel group has a history of being linked to al-Qaida. The United States previously stated that their officials were in direct contact with HTS rebels who overthrew Assad.

The U.S.-backed, Kurdish led Syrian Democratic Forces also proposed Tuesday that Kobani, a Kurdish majority town in northern Syria, become a demilitarized area, and there be a’redistribution and presence of American security forces.

The Turkish government, which supports the Syrian rebels who overthrew Assad, also fights against the Syrian Kurdish Militia, deeming it a terrorist group allied to the Kurdish Insurgency in its own country.

The Syrian Kurdish Forces were an important ally of the United States in the fight against extremist Islamic State.

On Monday, the bodies of over 30 Syrians who disappeared under Assad were discovered in a mass burial. As families of those missing watched, forensic teams and rebels dug up the remains of more than 30 Syrians who disappeared under Assad’s rule in a mass grave on Monday.

They said that they initially hoped to locate their loved ones behind bars.

“But we couldn’t find anyone, and it broke our heart.” “They were burnt alive here, after being doused with fuel,” said Mohammad Ghazaleh who was waiting near the mass grave.

Moussa al-Zouebi is the director of Izraa’s health department. He said that some of the recovered bodies showed signs of having been burned or shot in the head.

The new Syrian authorities have established a hotline to report missing persons and secret prisons.

Qatar reopened the embassy in Damascus on Tuesday, nearly 13 years after cutting diplomatic ties with Assad’s regime.

Qatar’s earlier statement had stated that it “categorically rejects the regime’s policies of repression against the Syrian people”. Since the civil war in Syria erupted, most foreign embassies have closed in Syria.

The French Embassy in Damascus hoisted its flag on Tuesday as a “symbolic gesture” in support of the Syrian people in this time of transition. The reopening of the embassy is subject to a continuing evaluation of political conditions and security, French Foreign Ministry Jean-Noel Barrot stated.

Recently, the Turkish Embassy in Damascus reopened.