by Mike Wagenheim
Danny Danon, the Israeli envoy to the United Nations, stated that the Jewish state is taking “limited and temporary measures” to counter threats arising in the region.
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Danny Danon, Israeli ambassador to the United
Nations, briefs reporters at U.N. headquarters, Dec. 4, 2024. Credit:
Loey Felipe/U.N. Photo. |
With global attention on Syria, following the ejection of Basher Assad, the former president, Russia called for a Monday meeting of the U.N. Security Council to target Israel, a source familiar with the council’s agenda told JNS.
The source said Moscow wanted to focus on Israel’s presence and the status of the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force. Other members of the council called for, and received, a broader briefing, including about a potential political resolution for Syria, an update on the situation on the ground and humanitarian needs, and refugee resettlement, the source told JNS.
Koussay Aldahhak, the Syrian ambassador to the global body, told reporters on Monday that he asked the Security Council to condemn the “Israeli attack” and “not allow Israel to benefit from this transition.”
Israeli forces entered the so-called “area of separation,” a 155-square-mile buffer zone established in the Golan Heights border area in 1974, on Saturday during a rebel attack on the U.N. Disengagement Force. The latter, a force of some 1,100 peacekeeping troops, is supposed to be the only one present and able to act militarily in that area.
After saying that it repelled the attack, Jerusalem has maintained a presence in the area and on the Syrian side of the Golan since the attack. Israel also initiated airstrikes to eliminate weapons production and storage sites, including chemical weapons, which it feared would fall into the hands of rebels and other armed groups, whose intentions are still largely unknown publicly.
The Syrian envoy told reporters that he and other diplomats received word from Damascus to continue their work. He said what was needed amid the historic, rapid changes in his country was “an end to the Israeli aggressions on Syria.”
Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, penned a letter to the Security Council ahead of Monday’s closed session of the 15-member-state body.
Israel has “taken limited and temporary measures” to counter any threats arising in the area of separation, Danon wrote. He added that the Jewish state is “focusing on specific locations where defensive measures are necessary to maintain security, stability and preventing armed gangs from threatening Israeli territory.”
Danon stated that Israel remains committed to the 1974 Disengagement Agreement, which officially ended the Yom Kippur War and by which Israel agreed to retreat to the lines in the Golan it established after the Six-Day War in 1967.
In 1981, Israel officially declared sovereignty over the portion of the Golan it captured in 1967 from Syria in a move that has only been recognized by the United States. (Syria was one of the countries that attacked Israel during the Six-Day War.)
Robert Wood, the deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters on Monday that Washington “has no reason to question” Israel’s claim that its presence on the Syrian side of the border is temporary.
Amid current and looming challenges, Syrians should have the opportunity to “enjoy the little bit of freedom they have from that ruthless regime” of Assad, Danon said.
Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesman for António Guterres, the U.N. secretary-general, told JNS at a Monday press briefing that he could not confirm Israel’s claim over the weekend that it assisted U.N. Disengagement Force forces in repelling an attack.
“As far as UNDOF is concerned, they have no information about the IDF allegedly engaging with these armed people,” Dujarric said. The U.N. spokesman confirmed that the U.N. forces were attacked and that their base near Hader was looted partially.
There were no casualties in an exchange of fire, and U.N. forces later recovered the looted items, including weapons and ammunition, with the help of local community leaders, according to Dujarric.
JNS also asked the spokesman about Guterres’s social media post on Sunday, in which the secretary-general wrote that “after 14 years of brutal war and the fall of the dictatorial regime, today the people of Syria can seize an historic opportunity to build a stable and peaceful future.”
“The future of Syria is a matter for the Syrians to determine. The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria will work with them towards that end,” he added. “The United Nations will honor the memory of those who have borne the brunt of this conflict. We remain committed to helping Syrians build a country where reconciliation, justice, freedom and prosperity are shared realities for all.”
Guterres, who is not known to criticize dictatorships, was chided by critics for a warm October embrace with Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko and for bowing to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has also welcomed Iranian leaders and diplomats with smiles and laughter.
JNS asked Dujarric if his boss’s statement indicated that Guterres would now speak out more about dictators.
Guterres “was just stating a fact,” Dujarric said, taking issue with the characterization of the secretary-general’s prior documented exchanges with dictators.
JNS pressed Dujarric on whether Guterres was calling for the fall of other dictatorial regimes, in addition to Assad’s. The U.N. spokesman said that “what he is calling for is for every member state to respect the ideas that are embodied in the charter, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that they all signed on to.”
Mike Wagenheim
Source: https://www.jns.org/no-reason-to-question-israeli-claim-of-interim-presence-on-syrian-side-of-golan-us-says/
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