PARIS: France Wednesday called upon Israel to withdraw forces from the buffer zone separating the annexed Golan Heights from Syrian territory.
“Any military deployment in the separation zone between Israel and Syria is a violation of the disengagement agreement of 1974,” France’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday he had ordered the army to “seize” the demilitarized zone in the Syrian-controlled part of the Golan Heights after the opposition alliance swept Syrian president Bashar al-Assad from power.
“France calls on Israel to withdraw from the zone and to respect Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the foreign ministry spokesman said.
The area is patrolled by a United Nations peacekeeping force known as UNDOF, with the global body warning Israel Monday it is in breach of the 50-year-old deal that ended a 1973 war with Syria.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a UN official in New York told AFP that Israeli forces had occupied seven positions in the buffer zone.
The Israeli military on Tuesday denied reports that its tanks were advancing towards Damascus, insisting that its forces were stationed within the buffer zone.
Earlier, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey had condemned the Israeli aggression against Syria, and its illegal seizure of the buffer zone in the Golan Heights.
Meanwhile, Syria’s new transitional prime minister has called for Syrians who have sought refuge abroad to return to their homeland following the ouster of Bashar al-Assad. Mohammad al-Bashir, has been appointed as the transitional head of government to run the country until March.
The UN has warned that Israeli military activity along the Golan Heights buffer zone in Syria “would constitute a violation” of a 1974 pact on disengagement between Syria and Israel.
