Israel’s prime minister has faced widespread condemnation from Arab nations following the deployment of Israeli troops into a demilitarized zone within the Golan Heights.
Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Monday that the Golan Heights, illegally occupied by Israel, will remain a permanent and integral part of the Israeli state. This statement followed the prime minister’s order on Sunday to send troops into the buffer zone separating the Golan Heights from Syria.
During a press conference Monday evening, Netanyahu asserted that Israel’s presence in the Golan Heights is now widely understood to be crucial, contrasting it with a presence merely on the Golan’s foothills. This alluded to Israel’s acquisition of the territory during the 1967 Six-Day War.
He reiterated that the Golan Heights will always be an inseparable component of Israel.
Israel unilaterally annexed the Golan Heights in 1981, an action deemed illegal internationally, with the exception of the United States. Prior to Sunday, however, Israeli forces were absent from the Golan Heights-Syria border due to a 1974 agreement establishing a buffer zone patrolled solely by UN peacekeepers.
Following opposition forces seizing Damascus and President Bashar al-Assad’s flight to Russia for asylum, Israel deployed tanks and troops into this buffer zone on Sunday. In a video message from the area, Netanyahu stated that the 1974 agreement was effectively nullified by the Syrian army’s withdrawal.
On Monday, Israeli forces advanced beyond the buffer zone and into Syrian territory. According to Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, this operation aims to create a new security zone free from heavy weaponry and terrorist infrastructure. Among the areas secured was the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, a site of initial fighting in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
Approximately 20,000 Jewish settlers and a similar number of Syrian Druze reside in the Golan Heights. The roughly 30 Jewish settlements are considered illegal under international law.
Netanyahu described Israel’s incursion into the buffer zone as temporary. Nevertheless, neighboring countries have accused Israel of exploiting the power vacuum in Damascus to illegally seize more land.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Monday condemning the move as a dangerous escalation, a violation of Syria’s sovereignty and unity, and a blatant disregard for international law. Egypt similarly accused Israel of leveraging Assad’s downfall to expand its occupation of Syrian territory, imposing a new reality that contradicts international law.