Qatar, Turkey, Egypt condemn Israel’s activity across Syrian border; US, UK supportive

Qatar, Turkey and Egypt on Tuesday decried Israel’s seizure of positions in the demilitarized strip on the border in Syrian territory, a move Jerusalem said was intended to counter any threats to the Israeli Golan Heights following the collapse of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The UK and US, by contrast, were broadly supportive, empathizing with Israeli security concerns.

Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said in a press conference that Doha considers it unacceptable for Israel to “exploit” the current situation in Syria and violate its sovereignty.

Turkey’s foreign ministry also denounced the move, reiterating its support for Syria’s “territorial integrity.”

“In this sensitive period, when the possibility of achieving the peace and stability that the Syrian people have desired for many years has emerged, Israel is once again displaying its occupying mentality,” it said in a statement.

Since 2016, Turkey has occupied parts of northern Syria and bombarded areas under the control of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which Ankara considers a terror group.

Egypt’s foreign ministry said it condemns Israel’s “further occupation of Syrian lands” and views the IDF’s movement into the buffer zone as an attempt to enforce a new reality on the ground.

An armed rebel waves to the crowd as people cheer during a gathering at the Karama square to welcome the arrival of rebel fighters from Aleppo and Daraa governorates in the southern Syrian city of Sweida on December 10, 2024. (SHADI AL DUBAISI / AFP)

The statements joined a chorus of similar condemnations from other Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia, which said the move would “ruin Syria’s chance of restoring its security,” and Iran, which called it a “violation” of the UN charter.

The UN special envoy for Syria on Tuesday also called on Israel to halt its military movements and bombardments inside Syria.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Monday morning that he had ordered the IDF to complete its takeover of the buffer zone between Israel and Syria in the Golan Heights after it took up dozens of new positions a day earlier, bracing for potential chaos in the wake of the Syrian rebel takeover that toppled the Assad family’s 50-year rule.

The IDF has said that its deployment to the buffer zone is a defensive and temporary measure but acknowledged that it may end up staying there for the foreseeable future, depending on developments. Israel denied that its forces had entered Syrian territory beyond the buffer zone after Syrian sources claimed Tuesday the incursion had extended to within 25 kilometers (15 miles) of the capital Damascus.

The 235-square-kilometer demilitarized buffer zone was established in the 1974 Agreement on Disengagement between Israel and Syria, which concluded the Yom Kippur War, and has been manned for decades by UN peacekeepers. However, Israel said Sunday that with the fall of the Assad regime, it considered the agreement void until order is restored in Syria, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a visit to the border that the agreement had “collapsed.”

In addition to holding positions in the buffer zone, Israel has carried out an extensive aerial campaign in Syria, targeting weaponry that it fears could fall into the hands of hostile forces.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy defended the strikes in response to a question in the House of Commons Monday night, saying he spoke with his Israeli counterpart on the matter, and that “there are legitimate security concerns for Israel, particularly in the context of a country that has housed ISIS, and al-Qaeda.”

The US also defended Israel’s takeover of the buffer zone while noting Israel’s statements that the action was temporary.

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller explained during a press briefing that the Syrian army had abandoned positions on its side of the Golan Heights and noted that this created a potential vacuum that could have been filled by terror organizations that threaten Israel.

“Israel has said that these actions are temporary to defend its borders. These are not permanent actions, and so ultimately, what we want to see is lasting stability between Israel and Syria, and that means we support all sides upholding the 1974 disengagement agreement,” Miller said Monday.

The Syrian government fell early Sunday in a stunning end to the 50-year rule of the Assad family, after a sudden rebel offensive sprinted across government-held territory and entered the capital in 10 days.

Syria’s civil war, which erupted in 2011 as an uprising against Assad’s rule, dragged in major outside powers, created space for jihadist terrorists to plot attacks around the world, and sent millions of refugees into neighboring states.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the strongest rebel group, is the former al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria regarded by the US and others as a terrorist organization, and many Syrians remain fearful it will impose draconian Islamist rule.

HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani has tried to reassure minorities that he will not interfere with them and the international community that he opposes Islamist attacks abroad. In Aleppo, which the rebels captured a week ago, there have not been reports of reprisals.