Syria: Netanyahu's visit to the south is illegal and a serious violation of our sovereignty.

Damascus considered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's tour in southern Syria on Wednesday as "illegitimate and a serious violation" of its sovereignty.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry stated in a statement that it "strongly condemns the illegal visit made by the Prime Minister of the Israeli occupation, along with Defense Minister (Israel Katz), Foreign Minister (Gideon Sa'ar), and several occupation officials to southern Syria."

The tour was deemed "illegitimate and a serious violation of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity." It affirmed that it represents "a new attempt to impose a fait accompli that contradicts relevant Security Council resolutions and falls within the policies of occupation aimed at entrenching its aggression and continuing to violate Syrian territory."

The ministry reiterated its "firm demand for the Israeli occupation to withdraw from Syrian territory." It emphasized that "all actions taken by the occupation in southern Syria are null and void" and have no legal effect, according to international law.

The Foreign Ministry called on "the international community to assume its responsibilities, deter the practices of the occupation, and compel it to fully withdraw from southern Syria and return to the 1974 disengagement agreement."

Earlier on Wednesday, Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu conducted a field tour in the Syrian buffer zone controlled by Israel since the end of last year, accompanied by Katz, Sa'ar, and Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir.

Recently, Israeli violations in southern Syria have escalated, with locals complaining about incursions into their agricultural lands, which are their only source of livelihood, and the destruction of hundreds of dunams (a dunam equals one thousand square meters) of forests, in addition to the arrest of individuals, establishment of military checkpoints, and searches of passersby.

Although the Syrian government has not posed any threat to Tel Aviv, the Israeli army repeatedly incurs into the Arab country, conducting airstrikes that have killed civilians and destroyed military sites, vehicles, and weapons and ammunition belonging to the army.