France calls on Israel to withdraw from Syria’s Golan Heights

By Nur Asena Erturk

France on Wednesday called on Israel to withdraw from Syria’s Golan Heights, according to an official statement from foreign ministry.

The French Foreign Ministry recalled that “as indicated by the United Nations, any military deployments in the separation zone between Israel and Syria is a violation of the 1974 Agreement on Disengagement, which must be respected by its signatories, Israel and Syria.”

“France calls on Israel to withdraw from the zone and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria,” the statement also read.

The ministry reiterated Paris’ “full support” to the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in Golan.

Israel has expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights this week by seizing a UN-supervised demilitarized buffer zone, hours after the downfall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.

Assad fled Syria to Russia where he was given asylum after anti-regime groups captured the capital Damascus on Sunday, putting an end to the rule of the Baath Party, which had been in power since 1963.

Shortly afterwards, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the collapse of a UN-monitored disengagement agreement, which established a buffer zone between Israel and Syria.

The Israeli army took control of the mountain summit of Mount Hermon on the Syrian side of the border, and several other locations.

The army also mounted dozens of airstrikes against military bases, air defense stations and intelligence headquarters as well as long- and short-range missile depots, unconventional weapon stockpiles across Syria.

Israel claims that its military actions inside Syrian territory are defensive “to prevent any threat.”

The Disengagement Agreement was signed on May 31, 1974 between Syria and Israel in the presence of representatives of the United Nations, the former Soviet Union (Russia now) and the US.

The agreement stipulates Israel’s withdrawal from all of the areas it had occupied during the 1973 war as well as an area of about 25 square kilometers (9.6 square miles) that included Quneitra and other locations.

The agreement defines the current border between Israel and Syria along with the accompanying military arrangements, creating two separation lines -- Israeli (blue) and Syrian (red) -- with a buffer zone between them.

The agreement is monitored by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), as it is tasked with maintaining the cease-fire between Israel and Syria following the 1973 Middle East War.