"War crimes" may have been committed in the framework of military operations conducted by Israel on Syrian territory, UN investigators said today, Agence France-Presse reported, BTA reported.
"The commission is deeply concerned by the ongoing violations by Israel" in Syria, said Fionnuala Ni Aolain, a member of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, during a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against Syria since the fall of President Bashar Assad's regime in December 2024, which was overthrown by an Islamist coalition that then came to power. The strikes were aimed specifically at military infrastructure.
The Israeli army has also deployed troops in the UN-monitored buffer zone that separates Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights, which Israel has occupied since 1967. Israel says it has established a "security zone" there, which it intends to maintain.
"Israeli military activity in southern Syria has intensified and become more permanent, characterized by short-term ground operations, patrols, raids and repeated searches," Ni Aolain noted. According to her, "Israel's establishment of a network of temporary checkpoints and permanent military infrastructure on Syrian territory has seriously affected the civilian population. Israel has also interrogated and detained hundreds of residents, including minors.
In June 2026, the Commission said it had identified 49 people - including two children - who had been detained by Israeli forces on Syrian territory, "after they were likely transferred across the Syrian border."
"Such actions could amount to war crimes," said Fionnuala Ní Aolain, recalling that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had said in July that "what is happening in the Golan Heights area is completely unacceptable."