Arab League chief decries Israeli strikes in Syria as ‘provocative escalation’

By Ibrahim Khazen and Mohammad Sio

CAIRO (AA) – Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit denounced on Wednesday Israeli airstrikes in Syria as a “provocative escalation” that seeks to exploit Syria’s political transition to establish “an illegal and illegitimate reality.”

In a statement, Aboul Gheit called the strikes that targeted the towns of Al-Kiswah in Damascus countryside and Izraa in Daraa in southern Syria on Tuesday night a “reckless provocation and an escalation aimed at taking advantage of Syria’s transition to impose an illegal and illegitimate reality.”

“Israel’s occupation of any Syrian land is a violation of international law,” he said, calling on the international community to take a clear stance against the “unjustified aggression, which seeks to ignite regional tensions and obstruct Syria’s political transition.”

He reaffirmed the Arab League’s solidarity with Syria in the face of Israeli attacks and “blatant attempts to sow discord.”

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed the strikes on Syria, warning that any attempt by Syrian regime forces “to establish themselves in the security zone in southern Syria will be met with fire.”

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the demilitarization of southern Syria, saying that his army will stay in Syria’s buffer zone “indefinitely.”

After the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December, Israel expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarized buffer zone, a move that violated the 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria. Tel Aviv also intensified airstrikes targeting Syrian military positions across the country.

Israel’s recent military advances in the Golan Heights, which it has occupied since 1967, have drawn condemnation from the UN and several Arab nations.

Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia on Dec. 8, ending the Baath Party’s regime, which had been in power since 1963.

The next day, Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the new Syrian administration, who was appointed president on Jan. 29, tasked Mohammed Al-Bashir with forming a government to oversee Syria’s transitional period.