Qatar’s Foreign Ministry denounced the IDF’s advance beyond the Golan Heights as a serious breach of international law.
Egypt, Jordan, and Qatar have strongly criticized Israel’s military intervention in Syria, alleging that Israel is taking advantage of the Syrian president’s overthrow to illegally seize territory.
Following the opposition’s capture of Damascus and Assad’s departure for Russia, Israel deployed troops into a demilitarized zone within the occupied Golan Heights on Sunday. In a video message from the region, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the 1974 agreement establishing the demilitarized zone was effectively void due to Syrian forces abandoning their positions.
On Monday, Israeli troops and tanks moved beyond the buffer zone into Syria, initiating an operation, according to Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, to create a new security zone free of heavy weaponry and terrorist infrastructure.
The action drew widespread condemnation throughout the Arab world. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry called it a dangerous escalation and a blatant violation of Syria’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and international law.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and the Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued similar condemnations, with Egypt asserting that Israel exploited the Syrian power vacuum to seize more land, imposing a new reality on the ground that violates international law.
Israel acquired the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and unilaterally annexed it in 1981. However, under the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement, a UN peacekeeping force was deployed to a buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian troops until Sunday.
For the first time in fifty years, IDF personnel ventured beyond this buffer zone, and Israeli warplanes simultaneously struck targets deeper within Syria, including Mezzeh Air Base in Damascus, Khalkhala Air Base, and the southern cities of Dara’a and Suweidah.
Katz announced on Monday that he had ordered the IDF to conduct strikes across Syria to destroy Syrian military assets and infrastructure. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar explained that these strikes targeted strategic weapons systems, such as chemical weapons, long-range missiles, and rockets, to prevent them from falling into extremist hands.