New Syrian gov't blasts Israel's seizure of Mount Hermon outpost
A general view of the Israeli village of Gahjar on left and the Lebanese village of Khiam on right is shown from Mount Hermon, the strategic outpost at the crossroads between Lebanon, Syria, and Israel. Israel's seizure of the site in the wake of the Assad regime's collapse drew condemnation from Syria's new government on Friday. File Photo by Atef Safadi/EPA-EFE
Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Syria's interim government has asked the United Nations to intervene in Israel's occupation of a key site in the strategically important Golan Heights following the collapse of the regime of former strongman leader Bashar al-Assad.
In a pair of letters sent Friday to the U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General António Guterres, Syria's permanent representative to the U.N., Qusay Al-Dahak, urged the world body to force Israel to relinquish an abandoned position overlooking the city of Damascus, which it seized earlier this week.
The letters are believed to be the first communications between the new de facto authorities in Syria, led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, and the United Nations.
Dahak's appeals to the U.N. were posted onto the X social media platform Friday by Syrian Kurdish journalist Sulaiman Ahmed. In the documents, the ambassador calls Israel's seizure of the Mount Hermon outpost -- which sits on the border between Syria, Lebanon and a U.N.-enforced demilitarized zone -- to be illegal and a violation of a 1974 disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria.
"At a time when the Syrian Arab Republic is witnessing a new phase in its history in which its people aspire to establish a state of freedom, equality and the rule of law and to realize their hopes for prosperity and stability, the Israeli occupation army has incursed into additional areas of Syrian territory in Mount Hermon and Quneitra Governorate," he wrote.
Syria's new leadership, Dahak said, "condemns in the strongest terms this Israeli aggression," which he characterized as "a grave violation" of the 1974 disengagement agreement and said requires "firm and immediate measures to compel Israel to immediately cease its ongoing attacks on Syrian territory."
In the hours after HTS-led rebel forces overthrew the Assad regime on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces moved in to seize the Mount Hermon outpost, which offers commanding views of Damascus as well as Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, where Hezbollah militants have long held control.
The outpost had been patrolled by U.N. peacekeepers.
Guterres this week stressed that the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement "remains in force" and must be upheld, "including by ending all unauthorized presence in the area of separation and refraining from any action that would undermine the ceasefire and stability in Golan."
However, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the overthrow of the Assad regime had rendered the 1974 deal moot and declared that Israel would occupy the buffer zone as a "temporary defensive position until a suitable arrangement is found."
"If we can establish neighborly relations and peaceful relations with the new forces emerging in Syria, that's our desire. But if we do not, we will do whatever it takes to defend the State of Israel and the border of Israel," he told reporters.
A general view of the Israeli village of Gahjar on left and the Lebanese village of Khiam on right is shown from Mount Hermon, the strategic outpost at the crossroads between Lebanon, Syria, and Israel. Israel's seizure of the site in the wake of the Assad regime's collapse drew condemnation from Syria's new government on Friday. File Photo by Atef Safadi/EPA-EFE
Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Syria's interim government has asked the United Nations to intervene in Israel's occupation of a key site in the strategically important Golan Heights following the collapse of the regime of former strongman leader Bashar al-Assad.
In a pair of letters sent Friday to the U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General António Guterres, Syria's permanent representative to the U.N., Qusay Al-Dahak, urged the world body to force Israel to relinquish an abandoned position overlooking the city of Damascus, which it seized earlier this week.
The letters are believed to be the first communications between the new de facto authorities in Syria, led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, and the United Nations.
Dahak's appeals to the U.N. were posted onto the X social media platform Friday by Syrian Kurdish journalist Sulaiman Ahmed. In the documents, the ambassador calls Israel's seizure of the Mount Hermon outpost -- which sits on the border between Syria, Lebanon and a U.N.-enforced demilitarized zone -- to be illegal and a violation of a 1974 disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria.
"At a time when the Syrian Arab Republic is witnessing a new phase in its history in which its people aspire to establish a state of freedom, equality and the rule of law and to realize their hopes for prosperity and stability, the Israeli occupation army has incursed into additional areas of Syrian territory in Mount Hermon and Quneitra Governorate," he wrote.
Syria's new leadership, Dahak said, "condemns in the strongest terms this Israeli aggression," which he characterized as "a grave violation" of the 1974 disengagement agreement and said requires "firm and immediate measures to compel Israel to immediately cease its ongoing attacks on Syrian territory."
In the hours after HTS-led rebel forces overthrew the Assad regime on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces moved in to seize the Mount Hermon outpost, which offers commanding views of Damascus as well as Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, where Hezbollah militants have long held control.
The outpost had been patrolled by U.N. peacekeepers.
Guterres this week stressed that the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement "remains in force" and must be upheld, "including by ending all unauthorized presence in the area of separation and refraining from any action that would undermine the ceasefire and stability in Golan."
However, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the overthrow of the Assad regime had rendered the 1974 deal moot and declared that Israel would occupy the buffer zone as a "temporary defensive position until a suitable arrangement is found."
"If we can establish neighborly relations and peaceful relations with the new forces emerging in Syria, that's our desire. But if we do not, we will do whatever it takes to defend the State of Israel and the border of Israel," he told reporters.
UN Chief Warns of Israel's Syria Invasion and Land Seizures
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres stressed the "urgent need" for Israel to "de-escalate violence on all fronts."
Israeli tanks invading Syria are seen near al-Qunaitra on December 11, 2024.
(Photo: Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Brett Wilkins
Dec 12, 2024
COMMON DREAMS
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Thursday that he is "deeply concerned" by Israel's "recent and extensive violations of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity," including a ground invasion and airstrikes carried out by the Israel Defense Forces in the war-torn Mideastern nation.
Guterres "is particularly concerned over the hundreds of Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Syria" and has stressed the "urgent need to de-escalate violence on all fronts throughout the country," said U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
Israel claims its invasion and bombardment of Syria—which come as the United States and Turkey have also violated Syrian sovereignty with air and ground attacks—are meant to create a security buffer along the countries' shared border in the wake of last week's fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and amid the IDF's ongoing assault on Gaza, which has killed or wounded more than 162,000 Palestinians and is the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case.
While Israel argues that its invasion of Syria does not violate a 1974 armistice agreement between the two countries because the Assad dynasty no longer rules the neighboring nation, Dujarric said Guterres maintains that Israel must uphold its obligations under the deal, "including by ending all unauthorized presence in the area of separation and refraining from any action that would undermine the cease-fire and stability in Golan."
Israel conquered the western two-thirds of the Golan Heights in 1967 and has illegally occupied it ever since, annexing the seized lands in 1981.
Other countries including France, Russia, and Saudi Arabia have criticized Israel's invasion, while the United States defended the move.
"The Syrian army abandoned its positions in the area... which potentially creates a vacuum that could have been filled by terrorist organizations," U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a press briefing earlier this week. "Israel has said that these actions are temporary to defend its borders. These are not permanent actions... We support all sides upholding the 1974 disengagement agreement."
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres stressed the "urgent need" for Israel to "de-escalate violence on all fronts."
Israeli tanks invading Syria are seen near al-Qunaitra on December 11, 2024.
(Photo: Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Brett Wilkins
Dec 12, 2024
COMMON DREAMS
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Thursday that he is "deeply concerned" by Israel's "recent and extensive violations of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity," including a ground invasion and airstrikes carried out by the Israel Defense Forces in the war-torn Mideastern nation.
Guterres "is particularly concerned over the hundreds of Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Syria" and has stressed the "urgent need to de-escalate violence on all fronts throughout the country," said U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
Israel claims its invasion and bombardment of Syria—which come as the United States and Turkey have also violated Syrian sovereignty with air and ground attacks—are meant to create a security buffer along the countries' shared border in the wake of last week's fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and amid the IDF's ongoing assault on Gaza, which has killed or wounded more than 162,000 Palestinians and is the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case.
While Israel argues that its invasion of Syria does not violate a 1974 armistice agreement between the two countries because the Assad dynasty no longer rules the neighboring nation, Dujarric said Guterres maintains that Israel must uphold its obligations under the deal, "including by ending all unauthorized presence in the area of separation and refraining from any action that would undermine the cease-fire and stability in Golan."
Israel conquered the western two-thirds of the Golan Heights in 1967 and has illegally occupied it ever since, annexing the seized lands in 1981.
Other countries including France, Russia, and Saudi Arabia have criticized Israel's invasion, while the United States defended the move.
"The Syrian army abandoned its positions in the area... which potentially creates a vacuum that could have been filled by terrorist organizations," U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a press briefing earlier this week. "Israel has said that these actions are temporary to defend its borders. These are not permanent actions... We support all sides upholding the 1974 disengagement agreement."
'This Needs to Stop': UN Envoy Condemns Israeli Military's Advance on Syria
"What we are seeing is a violation of the disengagement agreement from 1974," said Geir Pedersen, the United Nations' special envoy to Syria.
Israeli military vehicles advance through a fence in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights on December 10, 2024. (Photo by JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images)
(Photo: Jalaa Marey/AFP via Getty Images)
Jake Johnson
Dec 10, 2024
COMMON DREAMS
The United Nations' special envoy to Syria said Tuesday that the Israeli military's rapid move to seize Syrian territory following the Assad government's collapse is a grave violation of a decades-old agreement that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims is now dead.
"What we are seeing is a violation of the disengagement agreement from 1974, so we will obviously, with our colleagues in New York, follow this extremely closely in the hours and days ahead," Geir Pedersen said at a media briefing in Geneva.
Hours earlier, Pedersen told Zeteo's Mehdi Hasan that "this needs to stop," referring to Israel's further encroachment on the occupied and illegally annexed Golan Heights.
"This is a very serious issue," Pedersen said, rejecting Netanyahu's assertion that the 1974 agreement is null. "Let's not start playing with an extremely important part of the peace structure that has been in place."
Netanyahu, who took the stand for the first time Tuesday in his long-running corruption trial, made clear in the wake of Assad's fall that he views developments in Syria as advantageous for Israel, writing on social media that "the collapse of the Syrian regime is a direct result of the severe blows with which we have struck Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran."
The prime minister also thanked U.S. President-elect Donald Trump for "acceding to my request to recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, in 2019," adding that the occupied territory "will be an inseparable part of the state of Israel forever."
The Washington Postreported late Monday that "within hours of rebels taking control of Syria's capital, Israel moved to seize military posts in that country’s south, sending its troops across the border for the first time since the official end of the Yom Kippur War in 1974."
"Israeli officials defended the move as limited in scope, aimed at preventing rebels or other local militias from using abandoned Syrian military equipment to target Israel or the Golan Heights, an area occupied by Israel after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war," the Post added. "On Monday, more troops could be seen outside this Druze village adjacent to the border, preparing to cross."
The United States, Israel's main ally and arms supplier, also defended the Israeli military's actions, with a State Department spokesman telling reporters Monday that "every country, I think, would be worried about a possible vacuum that could be filled by terrorist organizations on its border, especially in volatile times, as we obviously are in right now in Syria."
On Tuesday, Israel denied reports that its tanks reached a point roughly 16 miles from the Syrian capital as it continued to bomb Syrian army bases.
"Regional security sources and officers within the now fallen Syrian army described Tuesday morning's airstrikes as the heaviest yet, hitting military installations and airbases across Syria, destroying dozens of helicopters and jets, as well as Republican Guard assets in and around Damascus," Reutersreported. The U.S. also bombed dozens of targets in Syria in the aftermath of Assad's fall.
The governments of Iraq, Qatar, Iran, and Saudi Arabia have each denounced the Israeli military's seizure of Syrian land, with Qatar's foreign ministry slamming the move as "a dangerous development and a blatant attack on Syria's sovereignty and unity as well as a flagrant violation of international law."
"The policy of imposing a fait accompli pursued by the Israeli occupation, including its attempts to occupy Syrian territories, will lead the region to further violence and tension," the foreign ministry warned.
"What we are seeing is a violation of the disengagement agreement from 1974," said Geir Pedersen, the United Nations' special envoy to Syria.
Israeli military vehicles advance through a fence in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights on December 10, 2024. (Photo by JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images)
(Photo: Jalaa Marey/AFP via Getty Images)
Jake Johnson
Dec 10, 2024
COMMON DREAMS
The United Nations' special envoy to Syria said Tuesday that the Israeli military's rapid move to seize Syrian territory following the Assad government's collapse is a grave violation of a decades-old agreement that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims is now dead.
"What we are seeing is a violation of the disengagement agreement from 1974, so we will obviously, with our colleagues in New York, follow this extremely closely in the hours and days ahead," Geir Pedersen said at a media briefing in Geneva.
Hours earlier, Pedersen told Zeteo's Mehdi Hasan that "this needs to stop," referring to Israel's further encroachment on the occupied and illegally annexed Golan Heights.
"This is a very serious issue," Pedersen said, rejecting Netanyahu's assertion that the 1974 agreement is null. "Let's not start playing with an extremely important part of the peace structure that has been in place."
Netanyahu, who took the stand for the first time Tuesday in his long-running corruption trial, made clear in the wake of Assad's fall that he views developments in Syria as advantageous for Israel, writing on social media that "the collapse of the Syrian regime is a direct result of the severe blows with which we have struck Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran."
The prime minister also thanked U.S. President-elect Donald Trump for "acceding to my request to recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, in 2019," adding that the occupied territory "will be an inseparable part of the state of Israel forever."
The Washington Postreported late Monday that "within hours of rebels taking control of Syria's capital, Israel moved to seize military posts in that country’s south, sending its troops across the border for the first time since the official end of the Yom Kippur War in 1974."
"Israeli officials defended the move as limited in scope, aimed at preventing rebels or other local militias from using abandoned Syrian military equipment to target Israel or the Golan Heights, an area occupied by Israel after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war," the Post added. "On Monday, more troops could be seen outside this Druze village adjacent to the border, preparing to cross."
The United States, Israel's main ally and arms supplier, also defended the Israeli military's actions, with a State Department spokesman telling reporters Monday that "every country, I think, would be worried about a possible vacuum that could be filled by terrorist organizations on its border, especially in volatile times, as we obviously are in right now in Syria."
On Tuesday, Israel denied reports that its tanks reached a point roughly 16 miles from the Syrian capital as it continued to bomb Syrian army bases.
"Regional security sources and officers within the now fallen Syrian army described Tuesday morning's airstrikes as the heaviest yet, hitting military installations and airbases across Syria, destroying dozens of helicopters and jets, as well as Republican Guard assets in and around Damascus," Reutersreported. The U.S. also bombed dozens of targets in Syria in the aftermath of Assad's fall.
The governments of Iraq, Qatar, Iran, and Saudi Arabia have each denounced the Israeli military's seizure of Syrian land, with Qatar's foreign ministry slamming the move as "a dangerous development and a blatant attack on Syria's sovereignty and unity as well as a flagrant violation of international law."
"The policy of imposing a fait accompli pursued by the Israeli occupation, including its attempts to occupy Syrian territories, will lead the region to further violence and tension," the foreign ministry warned.
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