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The Hague – The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) today released a statement condemning Israeli occupation forces’ recent detention of a Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) ambulance in Quneitra governorate. On February 15, 2025, Israeli occupation forces intercepted a SARC ambulance in the Rasm al-Share’ area of rural Quneitra governorate and detained its four-member crew—three volunteers and a driver—while they were transporting a sick woman from the Golan Hospital to her home in Rasm al-Share’.
The statement adds that the ambulance’s entry had been pre-coordinated between the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) and the Israeli occupation forces, which recently advanced into Syrian territory, to facilitate the patient’s return to her home. Despite this earlier agreement, an Israeli army patrol intercepted the ambulance, forced the crew to disembark, bound their hands, blindfolded them, and took them to an unknown location before releasing them three hours later without providing any legal justification or explanation for their detention.
Moreover, the statement notes that Israeli patrol members seized the ambulance and drove it themselves to transport the sick woman to her home—an arbitrary and illegal action.
The statement stresses that Israeli occupation forces’ actions in the areas they infiltrated since December 2024 in Quneitra governorate constitute a clear breach of international humanitarian law and a violation of national sovereignty principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nation, in an attempt to impose a new de facto situation contrary to international law.
As the statement further notes, the detention of the SARC ambulance crew constitutes a direct violation of Article 19 of the 1949 First Geneva Convention, which mandates the protection of medical units and ambulances, prohibiting any attacks on or detention of them. This act also constitutes arbitrary detention in violation of Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and amounts to degrading treatment, contravening the Convention Against Torture.
In addition, the statement notes that Israel’s incursion into Syrian territory violates Article 2(4) of the United Nation Charter, which prohibits the use of force against member states’ territorial integrity. It also constitutes a severe violation of the disengagement agreements signed between Syria and Israel in 1974 and demonstrates a blatant infringement of the principle of national sovereignty.
The statement condemns Israel’s ground incursion targeting border villages and towns in Quneitra governorate, and the grave violations of international humanitarian law this entails, including the detention of medical and humanitarian personnel and obstruction of their work.
SNHR believes these practices undermine the Syrian transitional government’s efforts to manage the current phase in a peaceful and stable way, as well as hindering humanitarian and medical efforts to provide services to those in need in the occupied areas.
Recommendations
At the end of the statement, SNHR outlines a set of recommendations to the international community, UN, and international civil and human rights organizations, as well as Israeli occupation forces and the Syrian transitional government, chief among which are:
- Exert intense legal and diplomatic pressure on Israel to compel it to abide by international humanitarian law and cease its violations against medical and humanitarian personnel.
- Strengthen international monitoring mechanisms related to the humanitarian situation in affected areas to ensure the protection of humanitarian workers and prevent Israel from exploiting its military incursions to impose a new reality on the ground.
- Ensure adherence to the 1974 disengagement agreements and monitor illegal military incursions that threaten security and stability in the region.
- Impose binding measures on Israel to halt its targeting of medical personnel and their vehicles and to ensure the unobstructed delivery of humanitarian aid.
- Immediately cease targeting medical and humanitarian workers and uphold the principle of medical neutrality enshrined in the Geneva Conventions.
- Comply with international humanitarian law and refrain from detaining medical personnel or obstructing their work in any form.
- End illegal military incursions into Syrian border areas and respect Syrian sovereignty in accordance with UN resolutions.
- Submit formal complaints to the United Nations and international human rights organizations to document Israeli violations and demand accountability for those responsible.
- Enhance the protection of medical and relief workers by collaborating with international organizations to ensure their freedom of movement and safety.
- Activate international diplomacy to garner support against Israeli violations and exert pressure to restore sovereign rights in the occupied areas.
- Document Israeli violations against medical and humanitarian workers and prepare detailed reports to be submitted to relevant international bodies.
- Raise awareness about the dangers of targeting medical and relief personnel and the need for a unified stance to protect them.
- Support legal efforts to hold perpetrators of these violations accountable and engage with international entities to file legal cases against Israel’s unlawful practices and occupation.
