UPDATE - Syria, Jordan condemn Israeli premier’s visit to south as violation of UN resolutions

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS, REVISES HEADLINE

By Betul Yilmaz

ISTANBUL (AA) – Syria and Jordan denounced on Wednesday a field tour conducted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the buffer zone in the country’s south.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu conducted a field visit to the Israeli-seized buffer zone in southern Syria, along with Defense Minister Israel Katz, Army Chief Eyal Zamir, and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar.

In a statement, the Syrian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the “illegitimate visit” by Netanyahu and Israeli occupation officials as “a grave violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

"This visit represents a new attempt to impose a fait accompli that contradicts relevant UN Security Council resolutions and falls within the occupation’s policies aimed at entrenching its aggression and continuing its violations of Syrian territory,” the ministry added.

It reiterated Damascus’s firm demand for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Syrian territory, stressing that all measures taken by Tel Aviv in southern Syria are “null and void” and “have no legal effect under international law.”

The ministry called on the international community to exert pressure to force Israel to fully withdraw from southern Syria and comply with the 1974 Disengagement Agreement.

“Syria will continue to defend its sovereignty and its inalienable rights until it regains all of its territory,” the ministry stressed.

Jordan also condemned Netanyahu’s visit as “a flagrant violation of Syria’s sovereignty and unity of its territory, a blatant breach of international law, and a dangerous escalation that will only contribute to further conflict and tension in the region.”

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Fuad Al-Majali reaffirmed Jordan’s full solidarity with Syria, and called on the international community to assume its legal and moral responsibilities and “oblige Israel to cease its provocative and illegal aggressions against Syria and end its occupation of part of its territories.”

After the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in late 2024, Israel expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarized buffer zone, a move that violated the 1974 Disengagement Agreement with Syria.