UN: Expanding Israeli Military Operations in Southern Syria Endanger Civilians
"We are receiving mounting protection concerns for civilians in southern Syria, where expanding operations by Israeli forces occupying these areas are placing lives at risk," spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told reporters in Geneva.
He said rights to family life and privacy were being curtailed while livelihoods, particularly in agricultural communities, were being severely affected.
Al-Kheetan cited reports of harassment and intimidation, detentions, interrogations, house searches and movement restrictions," including in Quneitra governorate, where Israeli forces have reportedly erected checkpoints, searched homes and detained civilians.
He said according to Syrian authorities, at least 250 people, including children, have been arrested in southern Syria since the fall of the former government, with 50 still detained, some reportedly transferred to prisons in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan.
Al-Kheetan also raised concern over Israeli plans to expand settlements in the occupied Syrian Golan, including reported plans to bring in 3,000 new Israeli settler families, saying such a plan violates international humanitarian law.
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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk called, according to the spokesperson, on Israel "to bring an end to all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in Syria," saying settlement activity “must also stop.”
Source: Anadolu Agency
