Speaking to reporters in the UN Security Council hall, at the UN's New York headquarters, Syrian UN Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari warned Tuesday that the “Israelis are playing with the fire, they are escalating the situation.”

He was referring to the rebel Syrian Al-Nusra Front’s takeover of the UNDOF Bravo Line on the Syrian side of the Golan.

Amb. Ja’afari went further and claimed Israel had actively helped the Al-Nusra fighters. “As you know, Jabhat Al-Nusra fighters, terrorist fighters, as you know according to the Security Council resolutions, an offshoot of the Al Qaeda, affiliated to Al Qaeda... these terrorist fighters of the Al-Nusra Front have succeeded with the help of the Israeli side, and the Qatari intervention, and assistance and involvement... succeeded in occupying almost all the Syrian side of the of the line of demarcation, meaning that the terrorists have replaced, so far, the UNDOF forces on the Syrian side of the Line of the Demarcation.”

As seen in the embedded video, Amb. Ja’afari referred repeatedly to the “DPKO,” or the United Nations’ Department of Peace Keeping Operations.

In essence, Syria appears to be alleging that Israel, Jordan, and Qatar and the United Nations are conspiring to enable Israel, in Amb. Ja’afari’s words, “to fight a war of attrition against Syrian forces,” similar to that which Israel fought against Lebanon during the 90’s.

The Bravo Line was demarcated in the 1974 Disengagement Agreement as the Syrian side of the United Nations Disengagement of Forces (UNDOF) area, whereas Alpha Line is the Israeli side.  

UNDOF area United Nations
University of Texas Libraries, Adapted by Mark Langfan

Gil Ronen contributed to this report.