Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he will double the Israeli population of the Golan Heights following the fall of Syria's Bashar Al-Assad. The Israeli government approved the plan on Sunday.

Israel announced plans to double its population in the occupied Golan Heights, earning international condemnation.

Berlin says 'perfectly clear' area belongs to Syria; Ankara says attempt to expand borders 'through occupation' is a 'grave concern'

Israel's "demographic development" plan to increase settler numbers only applies to the area of the Golan Heights that Israel seized during the Six Day War in 1967 and later annexed in 1981 and not to territory taken since al-Assad's ouster.

The hilly, 1,200-square-km area is a fertile and strategic plateau that overlooks Israel’s Galilee region as well as Lebanon, and borders Jordan

Israel says the move is necessary following the takeover of neighbouring Syria by an Islamist-led rebel alliance.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken says U.S. officials have made direct contact with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. HTS’s leader condemned Israel’s incursion into Syria.