Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights

[5] On 8 December 2024, following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad government in Syria, Israeli forces seized Syrian positions in the UNDOF buffer zone.

The boundary placed the entirety of the Sea of Galilee, along with a ten meter wide strip on the eastern shore, within the British Mandate.

[7] The French Mandate ended in 1946 with the independence of the Republic of Syria, and Syria demanded changes to the border to allow for greater access to fresh water sources, demands the British refused on the basis that the border had been submitted and approved to the League of Nations and Britain thus considered the matter closed.

[10][7] In the armistice negotiations that followed the declaration of a ceasefire, that ten meter strip was included in a demilitarized zone as Israel had argued for.

[19][20] The action was condemned internationally, and in response the United Nations Security Council passed United Nations Security Council Resolution 497 declaring the law "null and void and without international legal effect" and that the Fourth Geneva Convention continued to apply to the Golan as an occupied territory.

[21][22][23] The international community, with the exception of Israel and the United States, regards the Golan to be Syrian territory held under Israeli occupation.

[24][23][25] A number of states recognize the Israeli occupation as being legitimate under the United Nations Charter on a self-defense basis, but do not consider those concerns to allow for the annexation of territory seized by force.

[23] In March 2019, the United States, which previously considered the Golan Heights to be occupied, became the first country to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the territory it has held since 1967.