Israeli tanks were reported to have advanced six miles into Syria on Tuesday, prompting a denial from the Israel Defense Forces.

A Syrian security source told Reuters news agency that Israeli troops were in Qatana, a town around 13 miles from Damascus and six miles beyond the demilitarised zone separating the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syria.

Israel ordered its troops to move into the UN-patrolled buffer zone and seize the Syrian side of the Heights on Sunday, shortly after Islamist-led rebels seized Damascus.

Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s foreign minister, described the incursion as “temporary” and said it was done to prevent “an Oct 7 scenario from Syria”.

The IDF denies that its forces have left the demilitarised buffer zone.

“The reports circulating in the media about the alleged advancement of Israeli tanks towards Damascus are false. IDF troops are stationed within the buffer zone, as stated in the past,” an IDF official told The Telegraph.