Syria Accuses Israel of Backing Armed Suwayda Militias, Fueling Chaos
(MENAFN) Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani on Tuesday accused Israel of backing armed militias that operate outside state control in the southern city of Suwayda, saying Israel supplies them with weapons and money to advance an “agenda of chaos” in the region.
Al-Shaibani spoke at a joint news conference in Damascus with Sabrina Dallafior, director-general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), according to a state news agency.
He said Israel has sought to destabilize Syria since December 2024, when the Assad regime fell, through strikes on infrastructure and the seizure of additional Syrian territory.
The minister also charged that Israeli forces have forcibly displaced Syrians and carried out arbitrary arrests, adding that the fate of dozens of Syrian detainees remains unknown.
Al-Shaibani urged the international community to stop Israeli actions that he said threaten to drag the region into chaos. He called for a return to the 1974 disengagement agreement, with UN forces allowed to enforce it.
He also pressed Israel to take part seriously in US-sponsored negotiations, which he said have run for a year and a half, and stressed that Damascus is committed to a deal that respects Syria’s security and sovereignty.
Israel has occupied most of Syria’s Golan Heights since 1967. After the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government, Israeli forces took over the demilitarized buffer zone and widened their footprint in southern Syria. The 1974 agreement had created a UN-monitored buffer zone between Syrian and Israeli forces.
The two countries have held several rounds of US-mediated talks aimed at easing tensions, ending Israeli military operations and securing a security agreement. In August, delegations met in Jordan under US mediation to discuss halting Israeli attacks, arrests and operations, and returning Israeli forces to the positions they held before December 2024.
Al-Shaibani spoke at a joint news conference in Damascus with Sabrina Dallafior, director-general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), according to a state news agency.
He said Israel has sought to destabilize Syria since December 2024, when the Assad regime fell, through strikes on infrastructure and the seizure of additional Syrian territory.
The minister also charged that Israeli forces have forcibly displaced Syrians and carried out arbitrary arrests, adding that the fate of dozens of Syrian detainees remains unknown.
Al-Shaibani urged the international community to stop Israeli actions that he said threaten to drag the region into chaos. He called for a return to the 1974 disengagement agreement, with UN forces allowed to enforce it.
He also pressed Israel to take part seriously in US-sponsored negotiations, which he said have run for a year and a half, and stressed that Damascus is committed to a deal that respects Syria’s security and sovereignty.
Israel has occupied most of Syria’s Golan Heights since 1967. After the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government, Israeli forces took over the demilitarized buffer zone and widened their footprint in southern Syria. The 1974 agreement had created a UN-monitored buffer zone between Syrian and Israeli forces.
The two countries have held several rounds of US-mediated talks aimed at easing tensions, ending Israeli military operations and securing a security agreement. In August, delegations met in Jordan under US mediation to discuss halting Israeli attacks, arrests and operations, and returning Israeli forces to the positions they held before December 2024.
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