ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – UN chief Antonio Guterres on Saturday called Israel’s incursions into Syria “intolerable,” urging the international community and the Security Council to take more decisive action against “the violations,” during a joint presser with the Syrian foreign minister in Damascus. 

Guterres was in Damascus, the first UN chief to visit the country since 2009, two years before the civil war which killed more than half a million people. He met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa earlier in the day, where they discussed protecting the country’s sovereignty.  

Later,  he met with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, who called for Israel’s withdrawal from a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, where they deployed in 2024 after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad.

“We have a very clear position. A clear position in relation to the need to maintain the territorial integrity of Syria and against any violations of that territorial integrity. And a demand that all those violations cease,” Guterres said during a joint presser with Shaibani.

“I believe that there are serious responsibilities, inclusive of the Security Council, that is the body that has the responsibility to maintain peace and security in the world.  We consider that the present situation is intolerable and that that situation needs to stop,” he added.

After the new authorities in Damascus toppled Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the Israeli forces to complete the takeover of the 1974 buffer zone in the Golan Heights, separating the two states, claiming that the 1974 Disengagement Agreement was void until order was restored in Syria.

During the presser, Shaibani also slammed the presence of Israeli forces in Syria. 

“The continued Israeli military operations and illegal occupation of our land beyond the 1974 line constitute a direct threat to the security of the region and a drain on our national resources,” Shaibani said. 

“Therefore, we value the United Nations' commitment to international law and reiterate our demand for a firm international stance that compels [Israel] to withdraw immediately and unconditionally,” he added.

Israel has also launched repeated incursions in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and southwest Syria’s Quneitra countryside, conducting arrest sprees, raids, and setting up checkpoints.

“It is very important to maintain a clear position in all the bodies of the United Nations, and indeed the United Nations recognizes as such, without limitations, that the Golan Heights belongs to Syria,” Guterres stressed.

In January, high-level Syrian and Israeli delegations held a US-mediated meeting to resume negotiations over a security arrangement.

The resumption of dialogue was a “direct result” of US President Donald Trump’s request to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the Axios source at the time. After his meeting with the premier, Trump told reporters that he is confident Israel and Syria “will get along.”