BEIRUT: Human Rights Watch accused Israeli forces Wednesday of forcibly displacing residents of southern Syria, which Israel has demanded be demilitarised in a new security deal Syria is seeking with its neighbor.
The statement quoted the Israeli military as saying it is operating in southern Syria “to protect the citizens of the State of Israel” and that its activities are “in accordance with international law.”
The report came as Syrian state media said Israeli forces seized several people in the south, and a day after Damascus said it was working with Washington to reach mutual “security understandings” with Israel.
“Israeli forces occupying parts of southern Syria since December 2024 have carried out a range of abuses against residents, including forced displacement, which is a war crime,” HRW said in a statement.
As Islamist-led forces toppled longtime ruler Bashar Assad on December 8, Israel deployed troops to a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights that has separated the countries’ forces since an armistice that followed the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
