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Qatar issued a sharp condemnation Tuesday of Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz's entry into Syrian territory, calling the move an illegal crossing of international borders that violated Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The Qatari Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the "State of Qatar strongly condemns Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz's illegal entry into Syrian territory and transgression of international borders," describing it as a breach of Syrian sovereignty and territorial unity.
Katz's entry into the Syrian buffer zone in the southwest came just days after Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani met with Mossad director Roman Gofman in the Jordanian capital, Amman, for talks aimed at easing tensions between Israel and Syria. The proximity of the two events underscored the fragile and often contradictory nature of contacts between the two countries, which remain formally in a state of war.
Qatar called on the international community "to move swiftly to compel Israel to adhere to international legitimacy resolutions, particularly the 1974 Disengagement Agreement, and to end its repeated aggression on Syrian territories, to prevent escalation and tension in the region."
According to his office, Katz said during the visit that Israel "will not leave Mount Hermon or the security zone as long as there are jihadist threats to the State of Israel," framing the continued military presence as a response to ongoing security risks rather than a permanent territorial claim.
The buffer zone at the center of the dispute has been contested since December 2024, when Israeli forces seized control of it, a move Damascus said violated the 1974 Disengagement Agreement between the two countries. That agreement had governed the area since it ended active fighting between Israeli and Syrian forces following the 1973 war.
Israel has occupied most of the Golan Heights since 1967. After the collapse of the Bashar al-Assad government in late 2024, Israel declared the Disengagement Agreement null and void and expanded its footprint, seizing the buffer zone along with other positions, including the Syrian side of Mount Hermon.
Since then, Israeli forces have carried out near-daily incursions into southern Syria, particularly in the provinces of Daraa and Quneitra, including arrests, checkpoint deployments and searches of residents, actions that have drawn repeated criticism from Damascus and its allies.
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