Arab League resolution condemns Israeli grab of Syrian territory

ISTANBUL

The Arab League on Friday issued a resolution condemning the Israeli grab of the buffer zone in the Syrian territory, saying that the Arab countries have approached the Security Council to hold a session on Israel's practices against Syria.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that under the initiative of Egypt and other Arab countries, the Arab League held a meeting on the level of the permanent delegates in its headquarters in Cairo to draft a unified Arab stance toward the Israel's new occupation of more Syrian lands.

Immediately following the fall of the Assad regime on Dec. 8, the Israeli army captured the buffer zone in Syria’s occupied Golan Heights, shortly after Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu announced the collapse of a UN-monitored disengagement agreement with Damascus.

The Israeli army mounted hundreds of airstrikes against military bases, air defense stations, and intelligence headquarters, as well as long- and short-range missile depots and unconventional weapon stockpiles across Syria.

The meeting resulted in the issuance of a resolution condemning the Israeli incursion into Syria's buffer zone area and other adjacent areas including the Mount Hermon, according to the Egyptian statement.

The resolution considered the Israeli practices as "violation to the disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria in 1974."

The statement also said that the Arab League urged the international community to compel Israel to abide by international legitimacy, especially UN resolution 497 of 1981, demanding Israel to withdraw from the occupied Golan Heights.

Since 1967, Israel has occupied the Golan Heights. In 1974, a disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria was signed, which defined the borders of the buffer zone and established a demilitarized area.

Dictator Bashar Assad, who ruled Syria with an iron fist for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia on Dec. 8 after anti-regime groups seized control of Damascus. The takeover came after Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) fighters captured key cities in a swift offensive that lasted less than two weeks.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar