Pakistan calls for end to Israeli airstrikes in Syria damaging civilian infrastructure, killing non-combatants

Celina Ali

Islamabad: Pakistan has urged the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to act “decisively” against Israeli airstrikes in Syria which were damaging civilian infrastructure and urban centers and causing civilian deaths, the country’s permanent mission to the UN said on Friday.

Israel took advantage of the fall of former Syrian president Bashar Assad’s long-standing regime in December to expand its military presence in Syria. It now controls a 400-square-km demilitarized buffer zone, supports the Druze minority and opposes the current Syrian leadership.

Israel has recently stepped up airstrikes on Syria, which it described as a warning to the newly formed government in Damascus. Israel says it is targeting military headquarters and sites containing weapons and ammunition.

“Pakistan is deeply alarmed by Israel’s ongoing and escalating attacks on sovereign Syrian territory,” Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, told the 15-member UNSC during a briefing session on Syria.

“The recent airstrikes targeting multiple locations in Syria, including civilian infrastructure and urban centers, have caused civilian casualties and pose a grave threat to regional and international peace and security.”

He said the world was witnessing a “deeply troubling pattern” of continued, unprovoked Israeli military aggression, repeated violations of the Disengagement Agreement, an illegal military presence in the Area of Separation, and open declarations of indefinite occupation.

“This blatant disregard for Syria’s unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity must be unequivocally condemned,” Ahmad said. “The [UN] Council must demand Israel’s complete withdrawal from the occupied Golan Heights.”

The Agreement on Disengagement between Israel and Syria, signed on May 31, 1974, maintained the existing ceasefire and called for the separation of opposing parties by a UN Peacekeeping Force.

After Assad’s fall, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, who led anti-regime forces, was declared president for a transitional period in late January.

Israel said it will not tolerate an Islamist militant presence in southern Syria and has deployed troops into Syria’s border zone. However, Syria’s leadership has indicated it does not intend to open a front against Israel.

Ahmad said Israeli actions were undermining Syria’s efforts for “political stabilization” and “national reconciliation,” setting dangerous precedents in the region.

Warning that continued Israeli escalations could ignite a wider conflict, Ahmad said diplomacy, de-escalation and reconstruction should be the world’s top priorities.

He also demanded the UNSC condemn Israel’s blatant disregard for Syrian sovereignty and reiterated Pakistan’s support for a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process.