Israel has kept troops in a UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights since December’s ouster of Bashar al-Assad.
Syria has denounced a trip by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials to the country’s south, where they visited troops deployed to Syrian territory they’ve occupied for months.
Israel expanded its occupation of southern Syrian territory as the regime of former President Bashar al-Assad was overrun by rebel forces in December.
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“My government strongly condemns this provocative tour, which epitomises Israel’s ongoing aggression against Syria and its people,” Ibrahim Olabi, Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations, told the UN Security Council on Wednesday.
“We renew our call on the UN and this council to take firm and immediate action to halt these violations, ensure their non-reoccurrence, end the occupation and enforce relevant resolutions, particularly the 1974 disengagement agreement” that followed the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.
Since the overthrow of al-Assad, Israel has kept troops in a UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights separating Israeli and Syrian forces.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric described Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials’ “very public visit” as “concerning, to say the least”.
Dujarric noted that UN Resolution 2799, recently passed by the Security Council, “called for the full sovereignty, unity, independence, and territorial integrity of Syria”.
Israel has previously said the 1974 agreement has been void since al-Assad fled, and it has breached Syrian sovereignty with air strikes, ground infiltration operations, reconnaissance overflights, the establishment of checkpoints, and the arrest and disappearance of Syrian citizens.
Syria has not reciprocated the attacks.
‘Zero signs of aggression’
During the Security Council meeting, Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, did not directly address Netanyahu’s visit but instead lectured Syria’s ambassador.
“Show us that Syria is moving away from extremism and radicalism, that the protection of Christians and Jews is not an afterthought but a priority. Show us that the militias are restrained and justice is real and the cycle of indiscriminate killings has ended,” Danon said.
Olabi responded: “The proving, Mr Ambassador, tends to be on your shoulders. You have struck Syria more than 1,000 times, and we have responded with requests for diplomacy … and responded with zero signs of aggression towards Israel. … We have engaged constructively. and we still await for you to do the same.”
Netanyahu was accompanied to Syrian territory by Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, Defence Minister Israel Katz, army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and the head of the Shin Bet security service, David Zini
Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned “in the strongest terms the illegal visit, … considering it a serious violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
This month, Israel’s army renewed its incursions into Syria, setting up a military checkpoint in the southern province of Quneitra.
In September, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said Israel had conducted more than 1,000 air strikes and more than 400 ground incursions in Syria since al-Assad was overthrown, describing the actions as “very dangerous”.
Reporting from the UN in New York, Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo noted Syria and Israel continue to negotiate a security pact that analysts said could be finalised before the end of the year.
“The testy exchange between the two ambassadors likely won’t derail that. But it does show how little trust there is between both countries – and how Netanyahu and his government continue to try to provoke Damascus,” Elizondo said.
