UN investigators: Israeli operations in Syria may amount to war crimes

UN investigators said on Tuesday that Israeli operations in Syria, including the detention of dozens of people, may amount to “war crimes”.

 “We are deeply alarmed by violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by Israel on Syrian territory, which may amount to war crimes,” Commissioner Fionnuala Ni Aolain told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December 2024, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on Syria, mainly targeting military sites. Israel has said the strikes are aimed at preventing the new authorities from taking control of the former regime’s weapons stockpiles.

Israeli forces have also moved beyond the buffer zone bordering the Golan Heights, most of which Israel has occupied since 1967, reaching Mount Hermon on the border between Lebanon and Syria. Israel has said it intends to establish a demilitarised zone in southern Syria, while Israeli officials have repeatedly said its forces have no plans to withdraw.

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Ní Aoláin said Israeli military activity in southern Syria was escalating and becoming “increasingly sustained and entrenched”, involving ground incursions, patrols and repeated raids and searches that were harming civilians and displacing residents.

She said Israel’s establishment of temporary checkpoints and permanent military infrastructure on Syrian territory had had a “significant impact” on civilians.

The commission said it had documented the detention of 49 people, including two children, by Israeli forces in June 2026. It said the detainees were believed to have been transferred across the border, stressing that such actions “may amount to war crimes”.

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