UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said that Israeli settlement activity in the occupied Syrian Golan constitutes a violation of international law and UN resolutions.

In a report published on the official UN website on Monday, 17 November, the Secretary-General added that the Israeli cabinet had approved the allocation of about 11 million US dollars to support the expansion of settlements in the occupied Syrian Golan.

The report also addressed settlement expansion in the occupied Syrian Golan, noting that the Israeli government continues to seek to double the number of settlers there.

It pointed out that the Israeli army entered the buffer zone a week after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and carried out airstrikes across Syria.

The report noted that the Israeli army has maintained a continuous presence inside the buffer zone since 8 December 2024, explaining that the Israeli prime minister pledged that “the Golan Heights will remain forever an integral part of Israel”.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on 16 November that his forces would not withdraw from the summit of Mount Hermon and would remain in the “security zone” in southern Syria.

In a post on X, he added that “Israel’s policy is clear and provides for no Palestinian state, and that the army will remain on the summit of Mount Hermon and in the security zone”.

Call for UN action

Syria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ibrahim Olabi, called on the United Nations and the Security Council to take “firm” action to stop Israeli practices in Syria, put an end to its attacks, and prevent their recurrence.

In a Security Council session on the situation in the Middle East on 24 October, he said that the Israeli authorities must be compelled to withdraw their forces from Syrian territory, including the occupied Golan and the areas they have recently advanced into, and to prevent interference in Syria’s internal affairs.

He considered that Israel is continuing its “aggressive” practices against the Syrian people through its ongoing violations of the 1974 disengagement agreement.

He stressed that Syria completely rejects any pretexts put forward by the “Israeli occupation” to justify its crimes, pointing out that Israeli “crimes” aim to undermine Syria’s security and stability.

He underlined the importance of the continued work of the UN Disengagement Observer Force.

Dead end

Israel has announced that negotiations with Syria have reached a “dead end” after it rejected Syrian demands for a withdrawal from all the positions it has occupied since December 2024.

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation (KAN) reported on 17 November, citing unnamed sources without specifying their rank, that Israel rejected “Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s request for a withdrawal from all the positions the Israeli army has occupied in Syria after the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad’s regime”.

According to the same sources, “Israel will withdraw from some of these positions only in return for a comprehensive peace agreement with Syria”, and not a mere “security agreement”, something that “is not on the horizon at present”.

On 26 September, the Reuters news agency reported that efforts to reach a security agreement between Syria and Israel faced a last minute “obstacle” because of Israel’s demand to be allowed to open a “humanitarian corridor” to Suwayda province (southern Syria).