At the Manama Dialogue 2026 in Bahrain, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al Shaibani alleged that Israel has launched over 1,000 strikes against Syria in a two-year span. The minister called for restoring the borders that were active before December 8, 2024 .

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The erosion of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement

Since the collapse of the Assad regime on December 8, 2024, the stability of the Syrian-Israeli border has shifted significantly. According to the report, Israel has occupied the buffer zone originally established by the 1974 Disengagement Agreement, a move the United Nations has characterized as a violation of existing protocols.

This shift has fundamentally altered the security landscape that UN peacekeepers have monitored for decades. The buffer zone, created following the October 1973 war, was intended to separate Israeli and Syrian forces , but recent military movements have placed Israeli positions both inside and outside this designated area.

Over 1,000 strikes and the push for pre-December 2024 lines

During his address at the Manama Dialogue 2026, Asaad al Shaibani claimed that Israel has conducted more than 1,000 attacks against Syrian territory in under two years. These strikes, which the minister says have killed dozens of people, have prompted the Syrian government to demand a return to the territorial lines that were in place before the political shifts of December 2024.

Shaibani also challenged international calls for the Syrian state to maintain exclusive control over weapons. He argued that such demands are contradictory while Syrian sovereignty is being violated on a daily basis by Israeli military actions , as reported by the source.

UN Resolution 497 and the Golan Heights dispute

The diplomatic friction centers heavily on the status of the Golan Heights, which Syria maintains is its sovereign territory. Asaad al Shaibani invoked UN Security Council Resolution 497, adopted in 1981, to assert that Israel's annexation of the region is null and void under international law.

This legal framework remains the cornerstone of Syria's position as it seeks to delegitimize Israeli military presence in the region. By citing this resolution , the Syrian government is attempting to anchor its territorial claims in established international consensus during the regional security discussions in Bahrain.

The unverified scale of casualties and the Druze tension

While the Syrian government has presented a forceful narrative at the Manama Dialogue, several aspects of the conflict remain unverified by independent observers:

  • Casualty figures: The report notes that "dozens" have been killed by Israeli strikes, but a precise death toll or a breakdown of these casualties has not been provided.
  • Local instability: While the source mentions heightened tensions involving the Druze community and damage in Damascus on July 16, 2025, it does not clarify the current status of these specific local conflicts.
  • Israeli response: The claims presented by Shaibani represent the Syrian government's official stance, leaving the Israeli military's specific justifications or counter-claims for these 1,000 attacks absent from the current briefing.