Tel Aviv -- An Israeli minister has said that war with Syria “has become inevitable”, following developments near the Syrian town of Quneitra on Tuesday.

The Minister for Diaspora Affairs, Amichai Chikli, made the comment after videos circulated on Tuesday showing movements by Syrian security forces and armed men close to Israeli army positions in rural Quneitra. Tel Aviv described the activity as a “security threat”, although the area has seen years of repeated Israeli attacks, incursions, and ongoing violations of Syrian sovereignty.

The Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the rise in tension in Quneitra between an Israeli army unit and Syrian civilians occurred at the same time as a field tour by the United States ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, and Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon.

According to the newspaper, Waltz and Danon entered Old Quneitra during the tour wearing protective gear and carried out an on-site assessment of the situation. As they were returning to their vehicles, an “unusual incident” took place, involving disturbances and gunfire after an armed convoy passed by, along with what the Israeli army claims was an attempt to arrest a member of Islamic Jihad.

The newspaper said the two ambassadors did not witness the incident directly but were only a few hundred metres away from where it happened.