KEY POINTS
- Pakistan condemned the Israeli aggression against Syria.
- Pakistan urged the international community to take immediate steps to end Israeli impunity.
- Pakistan called for complete Israeli withdrawal from Occupied Palestine and other occupied territories.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has condemned the Israeli aggression against Syria and its illegal seizure of Syrian territory.
The Foreign Ministry in a statement on Tuesday warned that this assault on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria is a grave breach of international law.
President Bashar al-Assad fled Syria as an alliance of opposition groups swept into the capital Damascus, ending five decades of rule by his family on Sunday.
“Israel’s provocative actions are a dangerous development in an already volatile region. Israel has continued to blatantly defy international law and violate UN Security Council Resolutions,” the statement issued by the Pakistani foreign ministry noted.
Israel, which borders Syria, has sent troops into a buffer zone east of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights after Assad’s fall, in what Foreign Minister Gideon Saar described as a “limited and temporary step” for “security reasons”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel for almost 60 years, would perpetually remain part of Israel.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry expressed full support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria and rejected Israeli acquisition of territory by force.
“We reaffirm our support for the UN Security Council Resolution 497, which declares Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights “null and void and without international legal effect,” the Foreign Ministry said.
It urged the international community, including the United Nations Security Council, to take immediate and decisive steps to end Israeli impunity, its repeated violations of international law, and aggression against countries of the region.
Pakistan also reiterated that peace in the Middle East cannot be achieved without complete Israeli withdrawal from Occupied Palestine and other occupied territories, including the Syrian Golan.
The Israeli military on Tuesday denied reports that its tanks were advancing towards Damascus, insisting that its forces were stationed within the buffer zone.
Saudi Arabia on Monday said that Israel’s action to seize Syrian areas in an UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights and its attacks on Syrian territory confirm continued Israeli violation of international law.
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.
Turkey on Tuesday also accused Israel of an “occupying mentality” after its forces entered a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights.
