United Nations, December 14 (RHC)-- The United Nations has called for an urgent deescalation of airstrikes on Syria by Israeli forces, and their withdrawal from the U.N. buffer zone.

UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said: “The secretary-general is deeply concerned by the recent and extensive violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The secretary-general is particularly concerned over the hundreds of Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Syria, stressing the need, the urgent need, to deescalate violence on all fronts throughout the country.”

Meanwhile, Israel’s defense minister has told his troops to prepare to spend the winter holding the demilitarized zone that separates Syria from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.  

Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured the summit of Mount Haramun in the U.N.-designated buffer zone.  Netanyahu said this week the Golan Heights would “forever be an inseparable part of the State of Israel.”