Israel's prime minister has used the regime change in Syria as reason to approve a plan to double the Israeli population living in the occupied Golan Heights.
Benjamin Netanyahu said events over the border in Syria showed there was more reason than ever to bolster the number of settlements in the territory, which many countries do not recognise as Israeli territory.
"Strengthening the Golan is strengthening the state of Israel, and it is especially important at this time," he said in a statement on Sunday.
"We will continue to hold onto it, cause it to blossom, and settle in it."
Israel seized control of the Golan Heights during the Six Day War in 1967, and unilaterally annexed it in 1981.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Golan Heights to be illegal — a position Israel rejects.
More than 20,000 Israeli settlers already live in the Golan Heights, along with Druze communities — many of whom identify as Syrian.
US president-elect Donald Trump formally recognised it as Israeli territory during his first term in the White House, but countries such as Australia classify it as Israeli controlled and administered.
Mr Netanyahu's office said the plan was being pushed "in light of the war and the new front against Syria", with the Israeli government committing 40 million shekels ($17.4 million) to the cause.
Syria 'an active enemy state', Netanyahu says
It is the latest provocative move by the Israeli government in the wake of rebel forces taking control of Syria, after more than five decades of the Assad family dictatorship.
Hundreds of air strikes have been launched into Syria, with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claiming it was targeting weapons stockpiles and military infrastructure abandoned by the former Syrian government's forces to ensure they did not fall into rebel hands.
Israel has also deployed troops and tanks across the border of the Golan Heights into Syria, positioning them in an area that had been considered a demilitarised buffer zone since the 1970s.
IDF personnel are being told to prepare to stay there for the winter, as the government monitors developments in Syria.
The deployment has been criticised as an opportunistic land grab by Arab countries, and France has joined calls for Israel to withdraw.
On Saturday, the leader of the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which led the campaign to topple Bashar al-Assad, criticised the Israeli air strikes and deployment into the buffer zone.
But he stopped short of threatening Israel with any form of retaliation.
"Syria's war-weary condition, after years of conflict and war, does not allow for new confrontations," Abu Mohammed al-Golani said in an interview with Syrian media.
"The priority at this stage is reconstruction and stability, not being drawn into disputes that could lead to further destruction."
The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria said the reconstruction effort would be hampered by economic sanctions on the Syrian government, dating back to the Assad regime.
Geir Pedersen urged countries such as the United States and the members of the European Union to lift those measures to aid the new administration.
Mr Netanyahu said Israel had "no interest in a conflict with Syria" in a video address shortly after he spoke with US president-elect Donald Trump.
"We will determine Israel's policy toward Syria according to the emerging reality on the ground," he said.
"I recall that for decades, Syria has been an active enemy state of Israel.
"It has attacked us repeatedly, it has allowed others to attack us from its territory, it has allowed Iran to arm Hezbollah through its territory."
He said Israeli actions in recent days were to "thwart potential threats".
ABC/wires
