Israeli construction along buffer zone with Syria violates ceasefire, UN says

The United Nations says Israeli construction along a demilitarised buffer zone with Syria has led to “severe violations” of a 50-year-old ceasefire agreement, which risk increasing tensions along their shared frontier in the occupied Golan Heights.

Satellite photographs show new trenches and earth berms dug over the past few months along the length of what is known as the Area of Separation (AoS).

The BBC has filmed construction taking place alongside a military vehicle near the town of Majdal Shams, and fresh earthworks in rural land further south. The work in both locations is believed to lie within Israeli-controlled areas.