Jordan's King Abdullah Warns Israel's 'Expansionist Appetite' Is Now a Regional Threat: 'Syria Is the Warning'

Jordan's King Abdullah II has warned that Israel's actions in southern Syria and the occupied West Bank are reshaping the region around his country, declaring that the Israeli government's 'expansionist appetite' has become a wider security threat.

Addressing the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, Abdullah said international inaction had encouraged Israel to push further across what he described as 'border lines and legal limits'.

'This Israeli government's expansionist appetite is now a regional threat,' the king said. 'And today, Syria is the warning the international community is choosing not to see.'

He pointed to 'repeated incursions', what he called creeping territorial expansion and the creation of 'new facts' on the ground, including around strategically important water resources.

King Says Israeli Activity in Syria Threatens Jordan's Security

Abdullah drew a direct connection between Israeli military activity in southern Syria and Jordan's own national security.

'For Jordan, there is no ambiguity,' he said. 'Any threat to our northern border, or our water security, is a threat to our national security.'

'Jordan will not look away,' he added. 'We will protect our security, our water, and the interests of our people.'

Israel has maintained a military presence in parts of southern Syria since the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's government in December 2024, while also carrying out raids and patrols deeper inside Syrian territory.

A UN Commission of Inquiry said this month that Israeli military activity in southern Syria had become increasingly 'sustained and entrenched', citing ground incursions, checkpoints and fixed military infrastructure.

It said some actions, including the detention of Syrians and their transfer across the border into Israel, may amount to war crimes.

Israel says its operations are necessary to protect its citizens amid instability in Syria and has denied having territorial ambitions there.

Abdullah Links Syria Warning to West Bank

The king placed Syria within a broader argument about Israeli policy, saying the international community should not assume the government's ambitions 'stop at Palestine'.

Before turning to Syria, Abdullah criticised settlement growth, Palestinian displacement and what Jordan views as the steady erosion of the possibility of a viable Palestinian state.

Those concerns come as Israel moves ahead with the controversial E1 settlement project in the occupied West Bank. A new tender for 2,167 housing units was added in September, on top of an earlier tender for 1,234 units, bringing the E1 total to 3,401. Israeli rights group Ir Amim says the project would further separate East Jerusalem from surrounding Palestinian areas and fragment the West Bank.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has openly backed E1 as a way of preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state. Israel disputes the international legal position on its West Bank settlements, which the UN and most countries consider illegal under international law.

'How Far It Can Go'

Abdullah accused the international community of allowing incremental changes to become permanent realities.

'Step by calculated step, Israel is testing how far it can go,' he said. 'And every time the international community looks away, Israel learns that it can go even further across border lines and legal limits.'

He ended that section of his speech with a direct challenge to other governments, asking whether the international community would simply stand by if Israel continued what he called its 'antagonistic approach' in southern Syria.

The remarks reflect Jordan's wider concerns over Israeli actions in the West Bank, developments in southern Syria and their potential consequences for the kingdom's borders, water security and regional stability.