2026-07-25T13:00:37+00:00
Shafaq News- Damascus
United Nations Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres on Saturday reaffirmed that the occupied Golan Heights is
Syrian territory and called for an end to Israeli violations of the country’s
“sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Speaking at a joint press conference
in Damascus with Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani, Guterres also urged
international support for Syria’s recovery, arguing that no country emerging
from a severe conflict can rebuild alone and pledging broader UN cooperation on
humanitarian aid, development, and reconstruction.
Al-Shaibani described Israeli
actions on Syrian territory as a direct threat to regional security, adding
that Damascus was working to secure its borders and confine weapons to state
control.
Israel captured the Golan Heights
from Syria in 1967 and effectively annexed the territory in 1981, a move UN
Security Council Resolution 497 declared “null and void and without
international legal effect.”
Guterres arrived in Damascus earlier
today for the first visit by a UN secretary-general since Ban Ki-moon traveled
to Syria in 2009 and met transitional President Ahmed Al-Sharaa.
