The Syrian Future Movement strongly condemns the latest Israeli aggression, namely the shelling of Tel Ahmar al-Sharqi in the southern Quneitra countryside by Israeli occupation forces with three artillery shells on Wednesday, December 17, 2025, following a similar attack on the Saisoun outpost in the western Daraa countryside.
This attack comes within the context of a continuous series of Israeli incursions and artillery bombardments of Syrian territory in the Golan Heights and surrounding areas, raising legitimate concerns about an escalation aimed at consolidating the occupation and displacing the population.
The Syrian Future Movement considers this shelling a blatant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic, and a flagrant breach of the provisions of international humanitarian law and international law, most notably:
- Article 2(4) of the Charter of the United Nations, which prohibits the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state and affirms the principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force.
- The 1974 Disengagement Agreement between Syria and Israel established a buffer zone under the supervision of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). Any incursion or shelling within this zone constitutes a direct violation of this international agreement.
- Security Council Resolution 497 (1981) unanimously declared that Israel’s decision to impose its laws and administration on the occupied Syrian Golan was “null and void and has no international legal effect,” and reaffirmed the continued applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention to the occupied territories.
- The Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (1949), particularly the articles prohibiting attacks on civilian areas and the imposition of collective punishment or demographic change in occupied territories, is also relevant. These attacks are often accompanied by repeated incursions, arbitrary arrests, and the bulldozing of agricultural lands, threatening the lives of the civilian population and causing widespread fear and displacement.
- The repeated resolutions of the UN General Assembly, including the most recent one in December 2025, demand that Israel withdraw completely from the occupied Syrian Golan to the June 4, 1967 line, and affirm that the continued occupation impedes comprehensive peace in the region.
The Syrian Future Movement considers the recurrence of these attacks since the fall of the previous regime, including dozens of incursions in November and December 2025, to reflect a systematic policy of expanding the occupation and imposing a fait accompli by force, in blatant defiance of the international community and international law, which considers the Syrian Golan occupied territory that must be returned to full Syrian sovereignty.
The Syrian Future Movement holds Israel fully responsible for these grave violations, which threaten regional stability at a critical juncture as the new Syria seeks recovery and reconstruction. It calls upon the international community, particularly the Security Council and the UN General Assembly, to:
- Immediately and unequivocally condemn these attacks.
- Take effective punitive measures against Israel to ensure compliance with international resolutions.
- Strengthen the role of UN forces in the buffer zone to prevent Israeli violations.
- Supporting Syria’s inalienable right to recover the occupied Golan Heights in its entirety.
The Syrian Future Movement emphasizes that the continued international silence regarding these violations encourages further escalation and undermines the credibility of the international system based on law and justice. Syria will not relinquish its land and will not accept any fait accompli imposed by force.
