Israel sees increased threat from Syria despite moderate tone of rebel leaders

(Reuters) - The threats to Israel from Syria remain despite the moderate tone of rebel leaders who ousted President Bashar al-Assad a week ago, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday, amid military moves by his country to counter such threats.

"The immediate risks to the country have not disappeared and the latest developments in Syria increase the strength of the threat - despite the moderate image that the rebel leaders claim to present," Katz told officials examining the country's defence budget, according to a statement.

Syria's de facto leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, said on Saturday that Israel was using false pretexts to justify its attacks on Syria, but that he was not interested in engaging in new conflicts as the country focuses on rebuilding.

Sharaa - better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani - leads the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that swept Assad from power last Sunday, ending the family's five-decade iron-fisted rule.

Since then Israel has moved into a demilitarised zone inside Syria that was created after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, including the Syrian side of the strategic Mount Hermon that overlooks Damascus, where its forces took over an abandoned Syrian military post.

Israel, which has said that it does not intend to stay there and calls the incursion into Syrian territory a limited and temporary measure to ensure border security, has also carried out hundreds of strikes on Syria's strategic weapons stockpiles.

It has said it is destroying strategic weapons and military infrastructure to prevent them from being used by rebel groups that drove Assad from power, some of which grew from movements linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.

Several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Jordan, have condemned what they called Israel's seizure of a buffer zone in the Golan Heights.

"Syria's war-weary condition, after years of conflict and war, does not allow for new confrontations. The priority at this stage is reconstruction and stability, not being drawn into disputes that could lead to further destruction," Sharaa said in an interview published on the website of Syria TV, a channel that sides with the rebels.

He also said diplomatic solutions were the only way to ensure security and stability and that "uncalculated military adventures" were not wanted.



(Writing by Howard Goller; Editing by Frances Kerry)