Damascus condemns visit by Netanyahu, top Israeli officials to southern Syria

Israel’s prime minister and defence minister visited southern Syria on Tuesday in a move that was condemned by the Syrian government, amid reports this week that security talks between the two countries had reached a dead end.

Accompanied by Defence Minister Israel Katz, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited areas occupied by Israeli forces after December 2024 in a UN-designated buffer zone between the Golan Heights - Syrian territory occupied by Israel in 1967 - and the rest of Syria.

Several Israeli military officers were present, as images of the rare visit widely circulated on social media.

The Israeli prime minister’s office confirmed the visit on X, saying Netanyahu and Katz were joined by Israel’s military and internal security chiefs, Israel’s ambassador to the US, and others.

"At the start of the visit, the Prime Minister visited an IDF post where he observed the sector, and later held a security discussion," it said, sharing a video and images of the visit.

The Syrian foreign ministry strongly condemned the visit, describing it as a "serious violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity."

In a statement, the ministry said the visit represented "a new attempt to impose a fait accompli that contradicts relevant UN Security Council resolutions and falls within the policies of the occupation aimed at entrenching its aggression and continuing its violations of Syrian territory."

"Syria reiterates its firm demand for the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation from Syrian territory and affirms that all measures taken by the occupation in southern Syria are null and void and carry no legal effect under international law," it added.

Damascus also called on the international community to "shoulder its responsibilities, deter the practices of the [Israeli] occupation, and compel it to fully withdraw from southern Syria and return to the 1974 Disengagement Agreement."

Israel has occupied the Syrian Golan Heights since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Immediately after longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad was ousted from power in December last year, Israel claimed that a 1974 UN-brokered disengagement agreement with Syria was no longer active, storming the southwestern Quneitra region and occupying more territory, while launching a massive wave of airstrikes on Syria’s military infrastructure.

It also captured the Syrian side of Mount Hermon - which Netanyahu has previously visited. Israel has continued to carry out incursions in Quneitra province near the Golan Heights.

Direct talks between Israel and Syria's new government to reach a security agreement had been ongoing for months, but on Monday Israel’s Kan broadcaster said those talks had broken down.

Israeli officials have rejected Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa’s demand for an Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied since December 2024, and Tel Aviv reportedly wants a full peace deal without giving up the Golan Heights.

But Sharaa has ruled out a full peace agreement and normalisation unless Israel withdraws from the area.

On X, Netanyahu's office quoted him as saying: "We attach immense importance to our capability here, both defensive and offensive, safeguarding our Druze allies, and especially safeguarding the State of Israel and its northern border opposite the Golan Heights."

Violent sectarian clashes broke out this year between Druze and mostly Sunni Bedouin tribes in southern Syria’s Druze-majority Suweida province.

The clashes were made worse when the government sent reinforcements to the region to try and capture Suweida, and government-aligned forces have been accused of carrying out summary executions.

An Israeli military intervention exacerbated the crisis. Israel bombed key government sites in Damascus and elsewhere, positioning itself as a "protector" of the Druze minority and alleging that its presence in southern Syria was for this purpose.

There was a new bout of clashes in the west of the Suweida province earlier this month.