UN chief calls for Israel to end strikes in Syria, withdraw from buffer zone

UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations chief has a message for Israel: Stop the attacks on Syria.

Secretary-General António Guterres is particularly concerned about several hundred Israeli airstrikes on several Syrian locations and stresses “the urgent need to deescalate violence on all fronts throughout the country,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric tells reporters Thursday.

The Israeli military said Tuesday it carried out more than 350 strikes in Syria over the previous 48 hours, hitting “most of the strategic weapons stockpiles” belonging to the ousted Syrian regime to stop them from falling into the hands of extremists.

Israel also acknowledged pushing into a buffer zone inside Syria following last week’s overthrow of president Bashar Assad.

Dujarric adds that Guterres condemns all actions violating the 1974 ceasefire agreement between the two countries, insisting it remains in force days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared it void due to the Assad regime’s fall.

The UN chief also calls on the parties to uphold the agreement and end “all unauthorized presence in the area of separation” and refrain from any action undermining the disengagement pact and stability in the Golan Heights, the spokesman says.