Syria demands Israel surrender entire Golan Heights

Despite progress earlier this year in security talks, Syria is now demanding Israel cede control of the Golan Heights.

By World Israel News Staff

The new Syrian regime is demanding Israel cede control over the entire Golan Heights, including territory held by the Jewish state since 1967 and home to some 25,000 Israeli Jews.

Since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, Israel and the new Syrian government have quietly negotiated a new security deal that would redefine the border between the two countries and put an end to the state of war that has lasted since Israel’s establishment 77 years ago.

Immediately after Assad’s ouster, Israel seized control over a demilitarized zone established in the eastern Golan Heights in 1974 – in territory ceded by Israel to Syria after the Yom Kippur War.

Israeli forces have also operated across southern Syria against terrorist groups, including Iranian-aligned militias and radical Sunni forces that have targeted Syria’s Druze minority.

Talks brokered by the Trump administration have sought to establish a mutually agreed-upon border between Israel and Syria, along with understandings regarding limits to Israel’s ability to operate in southern Syria, the establishment of an air corridor through Syria to Iran, and restrictions on Syrian military deployments near the Israeli frontier.

Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that the talks have made significant progress while acknowledging that no deal is likely to be signed in the immediate future.

“We are maintaining contacts with the Syrians; there has been some progress, but it’s still a way off,” Netanyahu said.

Media reports at the time indicated that no major territorial changes were discussed in the talks, though Syria had sought Israel’s withdrawal from parts of the Golan occupied since December 2024.

On Friday, however, Syria publicly demanded Israel cede the entire strategic plateau, an area Israel annexed in 1981 and that is home to some 25,000 Israeli Jews and more than 20,000 Druze.

The first Trump administration recognized Israeli sovereignty over the area.

Despite this, Syria’s envoy to the United Nations, Ibrahim Olabi, told the UN Security Council that Damascus is seeking a full Israeli withdrawal – including from the entire Golan Heights.

“Israeli authorities must withdraw their forces from Syrian territory, including the occupied Golan Heights, as well as from areas recently invaded, and refrain from interfering in Syria’s internal affairs,” Olabi said.

“The Golan will remain Arab and Syrian and will never be subject to compromise or concession. Syria reaffirms its unwavering position that the occupied Golan Heights is an integral part of its sovereign territory, a position rooted in international law and repeatedly endorsed in UN resolutions.”

Olabi demanded the Security Council pass a resolution to force Israel to cede the Golan, with four temporary Security Council member states seconding the demand, including Algeria, Somalia, Guyana, and Sierra Leone.