Damascus decries Israeli defense chief's visit to occupied buffer zone

The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday condemned the illegal entry of Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz into Syrian territory, calling it a “clear provocation.”

The ministry’s assertion came in a statement issued after Katz visited a buffer zone in Syrian territory that Israeli forces occupied last year.

Katz’s visit comes two days after a meeting in Jordan -- ostensibly aimed at reducing tensions -- between Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani and Israeli intelligence chief Roman Gofman.

In its statement, the ministry condemned the “illegal entry of the Israeli defense minister … in flagrant violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity."

The move, it added, constitutes a “clear provocation, a violation of international law and the UN Charter, and a breach of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement” between Syria and Israel.

The ministry called on the international community to compel Israel to cease its repeated violations and withdraw from occupied Syrian territory.

The Israeli army seized control of the buffer zone last year -- a move Damascus said was a violation of a 1974 Disengagement Agreement between the two countries.

After the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in late 2024, Israel declared the Disengagement Agreement null and void, seizing the buffer zone and other positions, including the Syrian side of Mount Hermon.

Since then, Israel has carried out frequent incursions into southern Syria, particularly in the countryside of the Daraa and Quneitra provinces, where it has arrested residents and set up military checkpoints.