Israeli UN envoy accuses Syria of trying to incite war

Israel’s envoy to the United Nations on Saturday lodged an official complaint with the Security Council on Friday over Tuesday’s cross-border fire from Syria and accused Damascus of attempting to incite a war with Israel.

Ambassador Ron Prosor wrote in his missive to the UN that the gunfire, which damaged an IDF vehicle on the Israeli side of the ceasefire line, was a “brazen contravention to international agreements” and a violation of the 1974 Israel-Syria Separation of Forces agreement. Syria claimed days after the incident that the vehicle was inside Syrian territory when its soldiers opened fire.

“This is the fifth time that Syrian forces have fired into Israel from this military outpost,” he wrote in the letter addressed to Security Council President Kodjo Menan, and called Monday’s incident “part of a disturbing pattern of events intended to spark provocation with Israel.”

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor’s letter of protest to the Security Council, from May 23, 2013.

“We expect the international community to hold the Government of Syria accountable for undermining international agreements and regional stability,” Prosor said.

Prosor’s complaint to the Security Council was his second official protestation to the United Nations this year over violence from the Syrian civil war spilling over into Israel. Prosor warned in an urgent letter to the UN Security Council in March following mortar fire into the Golan Heights that Israel wouldn’t stand by while its citizens were harmed, and called on the council to take action.