Syria’s Sharaa: Golan is occupied Syrian territory, working toward deal based on 1974 ceasefire

Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa says in an interview at the Antalya Forum, a conference in Turkey, that any recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights is illegitimate and harms the rights of the Syrian people.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed it. Much of the international community does not recognize Israel’s sovereignty there, with the exception of the United States.

“The Golan is the right of the Syrian people, and no country will give up part of its land,” Sharaa says.

At the same time, Sharaa adds that negotiations with Israel are taking place in several stages. In the first stage, talks are focusing on an agreement that would see Israel withdraw to the 1974 ceasefire lines that took hold after the 1973 Yom Kippur War and that served as the effective border between the two countries for the following half-century.

Sharaa took power after an Islamist coalition he led ousted Syria’s longtime dictator, Bashar al-Assad, in late 2024. Following that ouster, Israel stationed troops in parts of Syria near the border to create a buffer zone.

According to Sharaa, the deal under discussion is largely based on a commitment to the 1974 agreement, with the Golan remaining under Israeli control.

“That agreement held for 50 years until Israel violated it after the fall of the Assad regime,” Sharaa said. “Later, if this succeeds, we will enter long-term negotiations to resolve the issue of the occupied Golan.”