Egypt, Jordan rebuke Israel’s takeover of Syrian territory
Egypt and Jordan condemned Israel’s takeover of the buffer zone with Syria after militants subverted the Damascus government following a surprise attack.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said the Israeli move represented “occupation of Syrian land, and a severe breach of the two countries’ 1974 disengagement agreement.”
It said Israel had “contravened international law, exploited the [current] state of fluidity and vacuum in Syria in order to occupy more Syrian land and to impose new facts on the ground in contravention of international law.”
Egypt called on the UN Security Council and international powers to take a “firm position” towards “Israeli attacks” on Syria.
Meanwhile, Jordan denounced Israel’s decision to seize Syrian-held areas in a UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday he had ordered the army to “seize” the demilitarized zone in the Syrian-controlled part of the Golan Heights.
“We condemn the fact that Israel has entered Syrian territory and taken control of the buffer zone,” Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told parliament.
Safadi, whose country borders the Golan Heights, called the move a “violation of international law.”
Most of the Golan Heights plateau has been occupied since 1967 by Israel, which later annexed it in a move not recognized by most of the international community.
In 1974 a buffer zone was established to separate the Israeli-held and Syrian territories, with UN peacekeepers stationed there.