Since the fall of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, Israeli authorities have taken steps to strengthen their military and civilian presence in the occupied Syrian Golan.
Latest measure to date: the Israeli government “unanimously” approved the project of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for “demographic development of the localities of the Golan and (the town of) Katzrin for a sum of 40 million shekels (10 .6 million euros), in light of the war and the new front in Syria and the desire to double the population of the Golan,” according to a press release from his office. “This is a decision that strengthens the localities of the Golan and the State of Israel,” the statement added.
At the same time, Netanyahu stressed that his country does not want to enter into conflict with Syria. “We have no interest in confronting Syria, we will define Israel's policy towards Syria based on the reality on the ground,” he said in a video released by his office.
“Today, everyone understands the critical importance of our presence on the Golan, and not at the foot of the Golan,” which overlooks the Galilee Hills and Lake Galilee in northern Israel, Netanyahu said. Around 30,000 settlers live in 34 localities in the Golan annexed by Israel, to which are added 23,000 Druze, most of whom claim to be Syrian while having the status of residents in Israel.
The Israeli Prime Minister had ordered the army, just hours after the fall of the Syrian president on December 8, to seize this buffer zone controlled by the UN separating the two countries on the Golan Heights. A UN official in New York confirmed to AFP that the peacekeeping force had “noted a number of daily incidents where the Israeli army is operating east of the buffer zone.”
Last week, Netanyahu declared that the annexed Golan would be Israeli “for eternity.” The Israeli army also seized areas beyond the buffer zone. Israel presented the action, which drew international condemnation, as a temporary and defensive measure. In the process, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered troops to “prepare to stay” in the buffer zone all winter.
The UN called this incursion into the buffer zone a “violation” of the 1974 disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria. For his part, Abu Mohammad Al Joulani, the leader of the rebel coalition which took power in Syria, denounced this incursion. He nevertheless affirmed that his country was too “exhausted” to engage in a new conflict. Israel conquered part of the Golan, in southwest Syria, during the Arab-Israeli war of 1967, before annexing this territory in 1981. An annexation which is not recognized by the UN. Only the United States, under the administration of Donald Trump, recognized this annexation in 2019.
Strong Condemnations
Several countries have denounced Israel's desire to expand its colonies in the annexed Golan. The Turkish Foreign Ministry has estimated that Israel is seeking to “expand its borders” with the plan to double the population of the annexed Golan. “We strongly condemn Israel's decision to expand illegal settlements in the Golan Heights occupied since 1967. The decision in question constitutes a new phase in Israel's goal of expanding its borders through occupation,” the ministry said in a statement. “Israel's current actions are seriously harming efforts to establish peace and stability in Syria and are further increasing tensions in the region.
The international community must react,” he added. For its part, Germany called on the Israeli government to abandon its plan to double the population in the part of the Syrian Golan annexed by Israel.
Stressing that “from the point of view of international law, this territory controlled by Israel belongs to Syria,” a spokesperson for the German Foreign Ministry said that Berlin is calling on the Israeli government to abandon this project. Berlin stressed that it is “very important that in this phase of political upheaval in Syria, all actors in the region take into account the territorial integrity of Syria, and not call it into question.”
For its part, Saudi Arabia condemned the Israeli government's plan to double the population in the part of the Syrian Golan occupied by Israel, denouncing “continued sabotage of opportunities to restore security and stability in Syria” after the fall. of Al Assad.
In a statement, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed “the kingdom's condemnation and denunciation of the decision of the Israeli occupation government to expand colonization in the occupied Golan”, seeing it as a “continued sabotage of the opportunities for restore security and stability in Syria” after the fall of Bashar Al Assad.
For its part, Qatar deplored “a new episode in the series of Israeli aggressions on Syrian territories and a flagrant violation of international law.” Egypt has expressed its total rejection and condemnation of the Israeli settlement expansion plan in the occupied Syrian Golan. “Egypt considers the plans to expand Israeli settlements in the occupied territories of the Syrian Golan, which contravene international law, as an obstinacy to impose a fait accompli,” the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Furthermore, the Israeli army “violently” hit numerous military installations on the Syrian coast during the night from Sunday to Monday, said an NGO, raids which caused panic among residents. “Israeli warplanes launched strikes” on several sites, including air defense units and “surface-to-surface missile depots,” according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH).
The NGO claims that these are the “heaviest strikes since 2012” in the coastal region of Tartous (west), which is home to a Russian naval base. Since Al Assad's flight, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on Syrian territory, targeting weapons warehouses and the Syrian navy's air defenses. Hocine Lamriben
The Security Council called to assume its responsibilities
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry yesterday called on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to assume its legal responsibilities regarding the suffering endured by the Palestinian people due to continued Zionist abuses in the Strip. of Ghaza, for more than a year, and to take appropriate measures to protect the two-state solution. In a statement, taken up by the Wafa news agency, the Palestinian ministry “condemned the aggression and forced displacements that the Zionist occupying army continues to perpetrate against the Palestinian people for the 437th consecutive day, as well as the targeting shelter schools in the Gaza Strip, the demolition of residential areas and the destruction of living infrastructure in the Palestinian enclave. In the same vein, he condemned “the continued crimes of the occupying army in the occupied West Bank, including in El Quds East, in particular the demolitions of houses and installations, as well as the distortion of aspects of Palestinian life in the majority of the occupied West Bank.
Aggression against Gaza; Eight martyrs in new strikes
At least eight Palestinians were martyred and others were injured yesterday in new Zionist strikes in the northern and central Gaza Strip, the Palestinian news agency, Wafa, reported. Zionist occupation warplanes bombed a house in Beit Lahia, north of the Palestinian enclave, leaving at least five martyrs and several injured, the same source said. Three other Palestinians were also martyred during the bombing of the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza. The Zionist occupying forces have continued their barbaric and genocidal aggression against the Gaza Strip, by land, sea and air, since October 7, 2023, leaving more than 45,028 martyrs and 106,962 injured, mostly women and children. , according to a new provisional assessment from the Palestinian health authorities, announced Monday, while more than 11,000 missing people were still under the rubble, amid massive destruction of infrastructure, in addition to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.
