The Israeli Defense Minister has today reiterated that Israel will not withdraw from the Golan Mountains, nor so little from other occupied Syrian territories, in response to the speech of the Syrian interim President at the United Nations General Assembly.
© Reuters
23/09/2026
by
Lusa
“ Os Montes Golan, under the sovereignty of Israel, are an inseparable part of the State of Israel forever,” said Israel Katz in a statement in response to Ahmad al-Sharaa's appeal in the general debate of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, for Israeli forces to withdraw to the lines they occupied before the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Furthermore, the Israeli Defense Minister maintained that Tel Aviv will maintain his positions on Mount Hermon and the security zone “as long as there is a jihadist threat” against the Israeli border and communities, both by Syrian security forces and other armed groups.
“ If they attack our forces or the territory of the State of Israel from Syria, we will have to act and respond,” the minister warned, adding that any territory Israel conquers in this scenario will remain its “forever, according to the laws of war.”.
He also accused the former Syrian regime of violating the conditions of the 1974 separation of forces agreement and allowing Syria to become an “Iranian base” and a threat to Israel.
The exchange of words took place hours after Al-Sharaa demanded, before the General Assembly, the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories and reaffirmed Syrian sovereignty over the Golan Mountains.
Al-Sharaa demanded the withdrawal of Israeli forces to their 2024 positions and denounced that since the fall of Al-Assad Israel has carried out 500 air raids, more than 1,200 raids and 300 arrests in Syria.
Israel captured and occupied most of the Golan Mountains during the Six-Day War in June 1967 and annexed the territory in 1981, which a UN resolution declared null, invalid and without any international effect.
In his speech at the United Nations, the Syrian interim leader also said “the world applauded our return”, but that “Israel continues to attack Syria.”.
“ War has taught us that truth is strong and falsehood is weak. Syria will continue its reconstruction,” continued Al-Sharaa, referring to the civil war (2011-2024) that devastated the country and in which he participated as then leader of the Syrian Islamic Group Levant Liberation Organisation (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or HTS, in Arabic), which overthrew the regime of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on 8 December 2024.