Israel has kept troops in a UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights since December\u2019s ouster of Bashar al-Assad.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Syria has denounced a trip by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials to the country\u2019s south, where they visited troops deployed to Syrian territory they\u2019ve occupied for months.<\/p>\n Israel expanded its occupation of southern Syrian territory as the regime of former President Bashar al-Assad was overrun by rebel forces in December.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n \u201cMy government strongly condemns this provocative tour, which epitomises Israel\u2019s ongoing aggression against Syria and its people,\u201d Ibrahim Olabi, Syria\u2019s ambassador to the United Nations, told the UN Security Council on Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe renew our call on the UN and this council to take firm and immediate action to halt these violations, ensure their non-reoccurrence, end the occupation and enforce relevant resolutions, particularly the 1974 disengagement agreement\u201d that followed the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.<\/p>\n Since the overthrow of al-Assad, Israel has kept troops in a UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights separating Israeli and Syrian forces.<\/p>\n UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric described Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials\u2019 \u201cvery public visit\u201d as \u201cconcerning, to say the least\u201d.<\/p>\n Dujarric noted that UN Resolution 2799, recently passed by the Security Council, \u201ccalled for the full sovereignty, unity, independence, and territorial integrity of Syria\u201d.<\/p>\n Israel has previously said the 1974 agreement has been void since al-Assad fled, and it has breached Syrian sovereignty with air strikes, ground infiltration operations, reconnaissance overflights, the establishment of checkpoints, and the arrest and disappearance of Syrian citizens.<\/p>\n Syria has not reciprocated the attacks.<\/p>\n During the Security Council meeting, Danny Danon, Israel\u2019s ambassador to the UN, did not directly address Netanyahu\u2019s visit but instead lectured Syria\u2019s ambassador.<\/p>\n \u201cShow us that Syria is moving away from extremism and radicalism, that the protection of Christians and Jews is not an afterthought but a priority. Show us that the militias are restrained and justice is real and the cycle of indiscriminate killings has ended,\u201d Danon said.<\/p>\n Olabi responded: \u201cThe proving, Mr Ambassador, tends to be on your shoulders. You have struck Syria more than 1,000 times, and we have responded with requests for diplomacy \u2026 and responded with zero signs of aggression towards Israel. \u2026 We have engaged constructively. and we still await for you to do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n Netanyahu was accompanied to Syrian territory by Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, Defence Minister Israel Katz, army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and the head of the Shin Bet security service, David Zini<\/p>\n Syria\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned \u201cin the strongest terms the illegal visit, \u2026 considering it a serious violation of Syria\u2019s sovereignty and territorial integrity\u201d.<\/p>\n This month, Israel\u2019s army renewed its incursions into Syria, setting up a military checkpoint in the southern province of Quneitra.<\/p>\n In September, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said Israel had conducted more than 1,000 air strikes and more than 400 ground incursions in Syria since al-Assad was overthrown, describing the actions as \u201cvery dangerous\u201d.<\/p>\n Reporting from the UN in New York, Al Jazeera\u2019s Gabriel Elizondo noted Syria and Israel continue to negotiate a security pact that analysts said could be finalised before the end of the year.<\/p>\n \u201cThe testy exchange between the two ambassadors likely won\u2019t derail that. But it does show how little trust there is between both countries \u2013 and how Netanyahu and his government continue to try to provoke Damascus,\u201d Elizondo said. Israel has kept troops in a UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights since December\u2019s ouster of Bashar al-Assad. Syria has denounced a trip by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials to the country\u2019s south, where they visited troops deployed to Syrian territory they\u2019ve occupied for months. Israel expanded its occupation of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
\u2018Zero signs of aggression\u2019<\/h2>\n
![\"Interactive_Cross](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Interactive_Cross-border_regional-tensiosn_3-02-1706083496.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C770&quality=80\")
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