Amman, Sept. 8 (Petra) - The UN's Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria warned on Tuesday that Israeli military operations inside Syria, including the detention and forced transfer of civilians, "may constitute war crimes." Commissioner Fionnuala Ní Aoláin told the UN Human Rights Council that Israeli ground operations in southern Syria are turning "increasingly continuous." She stated that frequent incursions, patrols, raids, and searches continue to harm local populations, noting that as of June, the panel identified 49 Syrians, including two children, detained by Israeli occupation forces inside Syria and transferred across the border.
She also noted that some detainees are held in incommunicado detention, raising concerns of torture and ill-treatment.
The commission confirmed it documented Israeli checkpoints and fixed military infrastructure inside Syria, primarily in the southern Quneitra and Daraa governorates.
It classified Israel's presence as a "military occupation" that triggered forced displacement, echoing UN Secretary-General António Guterres's stance that violations of Syrian sovereignty must stop.
Israeli forces entered the UN-monitored buffer zone in December 2024 and have since conducted hundreds of strikes on military infrastructure while seizing new positions. Both Damascus and the UN maintain that the deployment violates Syrian sovereignty and the 1974 Disengagement Agreement.
//Petra// HA
