The presence of Israeli troops who entered a U.N. buffer zone on the border with Syria following the fall of President Bashar Assad is frustrating the local population.

In-depth: Israel took advantage of the Assad regime's collapse to expand its occupation of the Golan Heights, with Syrians in Quneitra wary of what comes next.

Local residents want new government to push out IDF, which it accuses of demolishing homes and orchards; military source says army 'unaware of incidents'

The post IDF detains and later releases French journalist in southern Syria appeared first on The Times of Israel.

Dakheel, 55, watched in despair as an Israeli bulldozer demolished his 40-year-old home, claiming it was necessary to secure borders. “It was 6:30am when I heard the explosion,” he told Al Jazeera, pointing to the spot where a Syrian military post once stood near his destroyed house.

The situation in Quneitra, a province in southern Syria, is tense as Israeli forces advance into a UN-patrolled buffer zone amid local protests. This follows the recent fall of President Bashar Assad.

As Syria emerges from decades of dictatorship, people in the Assad family's ancestral home of Latakia province are both overjoyed and anxious. Assad and his family are Alawite, an offshoot of Shia Islam,

We call on international community, Arab countries, UN forces to put an end to ongoing daily attacks on villages and towns in Quneitra,' says resident of Suwayseh - Anadolu Ajansı

A Syrian mayor told AFP he had meetings with Israeli officers as the military conducted incursions in his village inside a Golan Heights buffer zone, saying they had demanded locals relinquish their weapons.

Since the fall of the Assad regime on Oct. 8, Israeli troops have taken up positions inside and beyond the Golan buffer zone, including on the strategic Syrian side of Mount Hermon. The Israeli Air Force has conducted hundreds of strikes on Assad military assets.

Residents in Quneitra have expressed fear that Israeli forces will advance further in the area as Syria's new leaders have yet to take action against such.

Israeli forces entered the area — which lies in a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights that was established by a 1974 ceasefire agreement between Syria and Israel — soon after the fall of President Bashar Assad last month in the country's 13-year civil war.