US aircraft carrier strike group arrives in Middle East

The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen told reporters on Tuesday Israeli attacks and operations inside Syria are unacceptable.

"We are continuing to see Israeli movements and bombardments into Syrian territory," Pederson said in Geneva, Switzerland. "This needs to stop. This is extremely important."

Israeli leaders say the operations are intended to deny "extremist" groups access to weapons or territory that could be used for cross-border attacks into Israel.

Pedersen also said that the conflict in Syria is not yet over, pointing to continued clashes in the northeast of the country between the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army and the mainly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, which are partnered with the U.S. in operations against ISIS remnants.

-ABC News' Joe Simonetti

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in court in Tel Aviv on Tuesday to give evidence in his corruption trial, making him the first sitting Israeli prime minister to take the stand as a defendant.

Netanyahu was indicted in 2019 on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. He denies all charges, calling the trial a "witch hunt."

"This is the opportunity to dispel the allegations against me," Netanyahu told the court on Tuesday morning. "There is a great absurdity in the charges and great injustice."

Netanyahu had long sought to delay or avoid appearing in front of the court. If found guilty, he could face 10 years in prison.

-ABC News' Joe Simonetti and Morgan Winsor

The Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday denied reports that Israeli tanks had been spotted on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus, amid the nascent Israeli operation inside a border buffer zone separating the two nations.

Lebanese news network Al Mayadeen reported that Israeli armor advanced into the Damascus countryside, while other unverified reports suggested that Israeli forces occupied several villages south of the capital.

The IDF rejected the reports. "The reports circulating in the media about the alleged advancement of Israeli tanks towards Damascus are false," an IDF official told ABC News.

"IDF troops are stationed within the buffer zone, as stated in the past," the official added.

Israeli forces entered the border buffer zone over the weekend amid the collapse of Bashar Assad's regime in Damascus. The area was demilitarized per a 1974 agreement between the two neighbors.

Israeli leaders say the deployment -- and the ongoing nationwide airstrike campaign -- is intended to prevent "extremist" groups using the country as a springboard for cross-border attacks.

Israel still occupies the Golan Heights plateau, which overlooks Damascus from the southwest. Israeli forces seized the strategic region during the 1967 war. Israel unilaterally annexed the area in 1981, a move recognized by the U.S. in 2019.

The vast majority of the international community still recognizes the Golan Heights as Syrian territory.

-ABC News' Jordana Miller and Joe Simonetti

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told journalists at a Monday briefing it is "obvious" that the U.S. wants to engage with Syrian rebel leaders including the head of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, which is designated as a terrorist organization in the U.S.

Miller said the U.S. has "the ability to engage" with proscribed terror groups like HTS and is also speaking with the foreign backers of such groups and intermediaries within Syria.

HTS has roots in al-Qaeda and its leader -- Abu Mohammed al-Jolani -- fought with al-Qaeda against American occupation forces in Iraq. Jolani is still subject to a U.S. $10 million bounty.

Miller declined to say whether the U.S. will engage directly with Jolani, but said: "We want to have conversations with the key groups inside Syria, either directly or indirectly. It's obvious that HTS is one of them."

"I'm not ruling anything in or out either way," Miller added.

Jolani has sought to distance himself from his jihadist background in recent media and public appearances. The rebel leader said he is committed to a pluralist transition to a new government of national unity.