ISTANBUL
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait on Thursday condemned a field tour by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to occupied territory in southern Syria as a “blatant violation” of Syria’s sovereignty and international law.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry denounced “the continued blatant violations by the Israeli occupation in the region,” mostly recently airstrikes in the Gaza Strip and “the violation of the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic’s lands through the deliberate transgression by the Israeli occupation’s Prime Minister and several of his government officials into the border area south of Syria.”
At least 25 Palestinians were killed and over 70 others injured in airstrikes in Gaza on Wednesday, in the latest violation of a ceasefire agreement.
The ministry called on the international community to assume its responsibility to stop Israel’s violations of all international laws and resolutions, and to compel it to abide by the Gaza ceasefire agreement and the 1974 Disengagement Agreement with Syria.
A Qatari Foreign Ministry statement said Netanyahu’s visit amounted to a “dangerous threat to regional security,” calling on the international community to take “urgent action” to compel Israel to comply with international legitimacy and relevant UN resolutions, particularly the 1974 Disengagement Agreement, and to halt repeated Israeli attacks on Syrian territory in order to prevent further escalation.
The statement reaffirmed Qatar’s “full support for Syria’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity,” as well as the aspirations of the Syrian people for security and stability.
Kuwait also expressed its firm condemnation of Netanyahu’s tour in the Syrian territory, which constitutes “a flagrant violation of Syria’s sovereignty” and “a blatant breach of international law and relevant UN Security Council resolutions.”
It affirmed its full support for Syria and its sovereignty over all its soil and called on the UN Security Council to ensure full compliance with 1974 Disengagement Agreements.
Netanyahu, along with Defense Minister Israel Katz, Army Chief Eyal Zamir, and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, conducted a field visit to the Israeli-seized buffer zone in southern Syria on Wednesday.
Damascus denounced the visit as “illegitimate” and “a grave violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
“This visit represents a new attempt to impose a fait accompli that contradicts relevant UN Security Council resolutions and falls within the occupation’s policies aimed at entrenching its aggression and continuing its violations of Syrian territory,” the Syrian Foreign Ministry said.
After the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in late 2024, Israel expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarized buffer zone, a move that violated the 1974 Disengagement Agreement with Syria.