Syria's al-Sharaa tells UN that Golan Heights will remain Syrian land

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa used his address to the United Nations General Assembly to reject Israel's claims over the Golan Heights, declaring that the territory remains Syrian and that any laws annexing it carry no legal force.

Speaking in the assembly hall, al-Sharaa invoked UN Security Council Resolution 497, which he said renders Israel's annexation measures null. "No attempts at imposing a fait accompli can undermine the legitimacy of our state, the sovereignty of our law, or the force of international law," he said, adding that the Golan "will remain a Syrian land."

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed the territory in 1981. In 2019, then-US President Donald Trump recognised Israeli sovereignty over the area, reversing decades of American policy. The United Nations and most of the international community continue to regard the Golan as occupied Syrian land and do not recognise the annexation.

Al-Sharaa also turned to Israel's military actions in Syria, saying they had included nearly 500 air and artillery strikes, more than 1,200 incursions and the arrest or detention of around 300 Syrians. He said the actions threatened Syria's stability, ran counter to the direction of the international community and revived memories of a painful period from which Syrians were only beginning to emerge.

The Syrian president reaffirmed Damascus's commitment to the 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel, which established a demilitarised separation zone between the two countries' forces and stationed a UN peacekeeping force there to maintain calm. He called for Israeli forces to withdraw to the lines of 8 December 2024, the date on which insurgents removed former president Bashar Assad from power.

"Our declared position remains firm in adhering to the 1974 Agreement and in calling for the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces to the lines of December 8, 2024," al-Sharaa said. He added that Syria rejects what he described as Israel's persistent attempts to impose a fait accompli and its continuing aggressions in the region, which he said undermine security and stability.