Israel's strikes and troops in Syria

What the dispute is about

The line. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and later applied its law there, a step the Security Council declared void and only the United States has recognised. A demilitarised strip patrolled by the United Nations separated the armies from 1974. Israel now holds that strip and more, and says the agreement lapsed with the government that signed it.

What Israel may prevent. Israel claims the right to keep any force it distrusts out of range: Syrian units in the south, Turkish aircraft and radars anywhere. Syria and nearly every other state call that a claim to decide what a neighbour may do on its own soil.

Whether there will be an agreement. The two governments have talked, through the Americans and directly. Syria asks for withdrawal to the 1974 line. Israel asks for a demilitarised south and keeps what it took.