ISRAEL was condemned today for its invasion of Syria in the wake of the fall of its president, Bashar al-Assad, as the United States joined Tel Aviv in widespread bombing of targets within the country.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that Israeli forces have seized a buffer zone in the Golan Heights, established by a 1974 ceasefire agreement with Syria. 

Speaking from a site overlooking the border between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Mr Netanyahu said the 50-year-old agreement had collapsed and that Syrian troops had abandoned their positions, necessitating the Israeli takeover as a “temporary defensive position.”