After Palestine, Lebanon, Israel extends its violations of international law to Syria

THE HAGUE

Israel’s occupation and airstrikes in Syria in the wake of the fall of the Assad regime violate international law and are part of a broader pattern of ongoing violations in Palestine and Lebanon, according to a scholar of the region’s history.

In an interview with Anadolu, Assal Rad, a scholar of Middle East history, said Israel’s recent operations in Syria reflect its decades-long approach to international law, pointing to parallels with its policies in Palestinian territories.

“So what we've seen Israel do is immediately exploit the fact that obviously Syria is going through this upheaval, a moment of transition and rupture, which creates some instability. It's a time where Syrians themselves are trying to assess the situation, make sure that the nation state itself doesn't collapse, that all of the procedures of the state continue,” she said.

She argued that Israel’s policies in the Golan Heights mirror its occupation of Palestinian lands.

“You have to understand it within that context because the mentality of the Israeli nation-state is that it can freely occupy these territories that are clearly designated under international law as territories, whether it's the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and East Jerusalem that belong to the Palestinian people, or the Golan Heights, which has also been occupied for decades, which belongs to Syria.”

Rad said Israel continues its occupation of these areas without facing international accountability.

“Israel has continued to carry out this decades-long occupation of all of these territories because essentially it faces no consequences in terms of international law or consequences because of its patronage by the United States, which makes sure that there is no accountability for Israel's actions.”

-Buffer zone justification

Rad criticized Israel’s justification for its actions in Syria, calling it legally baseless.

“It's interesting if you listen to what Israeli officials are saying, they're arguing that they need a buffer zone for the buffer zone, because the Golan Heights is in fact Syrian territory itself. So you see the same language and pattern of conquest that's been going on for decades,” she said.

Israel occupied most of the Golan Heights during the 1967 Middle East war and, in a move never recognized by the international community, later annexed the territory.​​​​​​​ In 1974, a disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria established a buffer zone and demilitarized area.

Rad further decried the policies of Israel’s current government, calling it “the most right-wing nationalist government in an already ethnonationalist state.”

Rad cited comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Cabinet ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who have openly discussed annexing the West Bank.

“This is something that within the Israeli state, you actually have commentators, officials within the state, leaders of what they call settler movements, who are talking about the fact that they will settle all of these lands, including in Syria, not to mention the public sort of discourse that you see within Israeli society.”

-International law cannot be rewritten

Rad stressed the importance of respecting international law and rejected attempts to reinterpret it for political gain.

“The ideas of sovereignty and territorial integrity are the basic components of international law. And that is not something that Israel or the United States for that matter can rewrite because they are not based on the will or the interpretations of individual nation states, but the consensus of an international community. So Syria's sovereignty, like that of Lebanon and every other country in the region, as well as by the way, Palestinian territories, those territories are also internationally recognized as belonging to the Palestinian people. All of that is enshrined in international law.”

Israel’s moves come in the wake of Bashar Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fleeing to Russia after anti-regime groups took control of Damascus on Sunday, ending the Baath Party regime, which had been in power in Syria since 1963.