Middle East Monitor / December 12, 2024
Israel’s occupation forces have advanced further into southern Syria, as a UN source has confirmed that the Israeli troops are obstructing the work of UN peacekeepers in the occupied Golan Heights, the Palestinian Information Centre has reported.
Israeli soldiers entered the town of Al-Hurriya in Quneitra province. According to Al-Jazeera, local residents of the town said that the occupation forces asked them to evacuate their homes with the aim of annexing it to the so-called buffer zones near the border with the Zionist state. Some residents in the village of Rasm al-Rawadi were forcibly displaced.
Newsweek reported that the UN sent reinforcements to Syria following the Israeli army’s incursion into the demilitarised buffer zone that has been in place for nearly fifty years. A UN diplomatic source confirmed that the UN Disengagement Observer Force has reinforced its positions in the Golan Heights. He explained that the Israeli army has transferred forces to the area, restricting the movement of peacekeeping forces significantly and hindering their operational tasks.
After the fall of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime at the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the cancellation of the 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria. He ordered the deployment of Israeli forces in the buffer zone in the Golan, which separates the occupied part of the heights from the rest of Syrian territory.
In recent days, the Israeli air force has launched hundreds of air strikes on Syria, targeting alleged chemical weapon depots, air defence systems, ammunition storage facilities and Syrian naval vessels.
An international expert described these air strikes as “entirely illegal” and affirmed that they have no basis in international law, reflecting Israeli policy in Syria over the past decade. George Katrougalos, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of democratic systems, said that what Israel is doing “falls within a recurring pattern of disrespect for international law.” He added: “These attacks, which were not preceded by any provocation, constitute a violation of the sovereignty of an independent state.”
