Shafaq News- Damascus

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday reaffirmed that the occupied Golan Heights is Syrian territory and called for an end to Israeli violations of the country’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Speaking at a joint press conference in Damascus with Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani, Guterres also urged international support for Syria’s recovery, arguing that no country emerging from a severe conflict can rebuild alone and pledging broader UN cooperation on humanitarian aid, development, and reconstruction.

Al-Shaibani described Israeli actions on Syrian territory as a direct threat to regional security, adding that Damascus was working to secure its borders and confine weapons to state control.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and effectively annexed the territory in 1981, a move UN Security Council Resolution 497 declared “null and void and without international legal effect.”

Guterres arrived in Damascus earlier today for the first visit by a UN secretary-general since Ban Ki-moon traveled to Syria in 2009 and met transitional President Ahmed Al-Sharaa.