Netanyahu on Syria visit says 'very close' to toppling Iran's Islamic republic

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a visit to Israeli troops in southern Syria on Wednesday that Iran's Islamic republic was on the verge of collapse, as fighting in the six-month Middle East war intensifies.

"There is still work to be done -- the main task is to bring down the terror regime in Iran. We are very close to that," he said on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon on the Israel-Syria border during a visit with Defence Minister Israel Katz.

"We know that the entire axis will ultimately collapse," he added, referring to Iran's proxy groups in the Middle East.

In southern Syria, Israeli forces have been stationed in a "security zone" since the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

They occupy what was previously a buffer zone patrolled by the United Nations that had separated Israeli and Syrian forces in the Israeli-occupied Golan since 1974.

"We will not allow any terrorist army to establish itself on our border," Netanyahu reiterated on Wednesday.

The Israeli leader had already visited troops in Syria at least twice in the past, once in December 2024, shortly after Israel took control of the buffer zone, and in November 2025.

Katz visited Israeli troops stationed in southern Syria two weeks ago, prompting condemnation from Damascus, which denounced a "flagrant violation of the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity".

Syria had been a staunch ally of the Islamic Republic under the leadership of Hafez al-Assad and his son Bashar, and hosted pro-Iranian paramilitary groups, but the alliance came to an end with Bashar's fall.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since Islamist leaders took over from Assad, and has made repeated incursions into Syrian territory.

Officials have also repeatedly vowed to keep troops in the security zone, where Israel is seeking a broader demilitarised area.

Netanyahu's threats against Iran come as Tehran and Washington are locked in a stalemate over the strategic Strait of Hormuz, with both sides trading attacks in the past week, six months into the war that the US and Israel launched against the Islamic Republic at the end of February.