Report: Katz says militias within Syria, including Houthis, are considering attack on Golan Heights

There are currently armed groups within Syria that are considering invading the Golan Heights, Defense Minister Israel Katz said at yesterday’s Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting, Kan reports.

According to the report, Katz said that Israel is “not on track” for a security deal or normalization with Damascus, and is preparing for scenarios in which Syrian forces, or various militias within the country, attempt to attack Israeli communities or again threaten Syrian Druze communities.

Katz told the committee that Houthis are among the forces operating in Syria, with the Iran-backed Yemeni rebel group weighing a ground invasion of the Golan Heights, the report adds.

The IDF has been deployed to nine posts inside southern Syria since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024, mostly within a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the border between the countries. Two of the posts are on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon.

Troops have been operating in areas up to around 15 kilometers (nine miles) deep into Syria, aiming to protect Israeli communities and capture weapons that Israel says could pose a threat to the country if they fall into the hands of “hostile forces,” including Lebanon’s Hezbollah or other Iran-backed militias.