Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israeli-occupied Syria on Wednesday, a trip condemned by the Syrian government, which is seeking an Israeli withdrawal from the area as part of a potential security deal.
Following the ousting of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which Netanyahu celebrated and took credit for, Israel captured a demilitarized buffer zone in southwestern Syria, beyond the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, that was created under a 1974 Israel-Syria disengagement deal. Israeli troops have also pushed further into the Quneitra and Daraa governorates, where they regularly carry out ground incursions into villages.
“We attach immense importance to our capability here, both defensive and offensive,” Netanyahu told Israeli troops in Syria, according to The Times of Israel.
Ibrahim Olabi, Syria’s ambassador to the UN, said that Damascus “strongly condemns this provocative tour, which epitomizes Israel’s ongoing aggression against Syria and its people.”
“We renew our call on the UN and this council to take firm and immediate action to halt these violations, ensure their non-reoccurrence, end the occupation and enforce relevant resolutions, particularly the 1974 disengagement agreement,” Olabi told the UN Security Council.
Netanyahu’s visit came amid reports that talks between Israel and Syria on a potential security deal are stalled due to the fact that Israel refuses to withdraw from the buffer zone and other territory it has captured since December 2024. Ahmed al-Sharaa, the former al-Qaeda commander who is now Syria’s president, said in interviews during his trip to the US that any security deal with Israel hinges on a withdrawal from those areas.
“We are engaged in direct negotiations with Israel, and we have gone a good distance on the way to reach an agreement. But to reach a final agreement, Israel should withdraw to their pre-December 8 borders,” Sharaa, formerly known by his al-Qaeda nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Julani, told The Washington Post.
Any security deal between Syria and Israel could bring more US involvement in Syria, as Reuters has reported that the US is planning to establish a military presence at an airbase on the outskirts of Damascus to monitor the agreement, though a Syrian Foreign Ministry official said the report was “untrue.”
