Paris  -  Israel must withdraw forces from the buffer zone separating the annexed Golan Heights from Syrian territory, France’s foreign ministry said Wednesday. “Any military deployment in the separation zone between Israel and Syria is a violation of the disengagement agreement of 1974,” a foreign ministry spokesman said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday he had ordered the army to “seize” the demilitarized zone in the Syrian-controlled part of the Golan Heights after rebels swept Syrian president Bashar al-Assad from power.

“France calls on Israel to withdraw from the zone and to respect Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the foreign ministry spokesman said. The area is patrolled by a UN peacekeeping force known as UNDOF, with the global body warning Israel Monday it is in breach of the 50-year-old deal that ended a 1973 war with Syria.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a UN official in New York told AFP that Israeli forces had occupied seven positions in the buffer zone. France’s intervention follows condemnations from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia and Turkey, as well as a US call for the Israeli incursion to be “temporary”.s