diff --git a/connectors/src/connectors/zendesk/lib/errors.ts b/connectors/src/connectors/zendesk/lib/errors.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..03b6a9d5062e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/connectors/src/connectors/zendesk/lib/errors.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+/**
+ * Errors returned by the library node-zendesk.
+ * Check out https://github.com/blakmatrix/node-zendesk/blob/fa069d927bd418ee2058bb7bb913f9414e395110/src/clients/helpers.js#L262
+ */
+interface NodeZendeskError extends Error {
+  statusCode: number;
+  result: string | null;
+}
+
+export function isNodeZendeskForbiddenError(
+  err: unknown
+): err is NodeZendeskError {
+  return (
+    typeof err === "object" &&
+    err !== null &&
+    "statusCode" in err &&
+    err.statusCode === 403
+  );
+}
diff --git a/connectors/src/connectors/zendesk/lib/zendesk_api.ts b/connectors/src/connectors/zendesk/lib/zendesk_api.ts
index 0b725332025e..2c39c4f63663 100644
--- a/connectors/src/connectors/zendesk/lib/zendesk_api.ts
+++ b/connectors/src/connectors/zendesk/lib/zendesk_api.ts
@@ -5,9 +5,11 @@ import { createClient } from "node-zendesk";
 import type {
   ZendeskFetchedArticle,
   ZendeskFetchedCategory,
+  ZendeskFetchedSection,
   ZendeskFetchedTicket,
   ZendeskFetchedUser,
 } from "@connectors/@types/node-zendesk";
+import { isNodeZendeskForbiddenError } from "@connectors/connectors/zendesk/lib/errors";
 import { ExternalOAuthTokenError } from "@connectors/lib/error";
 import logger from "@connectors/logger/logger";
 import type { ZendeskCategoryResource } from "@connectors/resources/zendesk_resources";
@@ -147,6 +149,8 @@ async function fetchFromZendeskWithRetries({
         `[Zendesk] Zendesk API 404 error on: ${getEndpointFromUrl(url)}`
       );
       return null;
+    } else if (rawResponse.status === 403) {
+      throw new ExternalOAuthTokenError();
     }
     logger.error(
       { rawResponse, status: rawResponse.status, text: rawResponse.text },
@@ -361,3 +365,30 @@ export async function fetchZendeskCurrentUser({
   const data = await response.json();
   return data.user;
 }
+
+/**
+ * Fetches the Section and the User for an article.
+ */
+export async function fetchArticleMetadata(
+  zendeskApiClient: Client,
+  article: ZendeskFetchedArticle
+): Promise<{ section: ZendeskFetchedSection; user: ZendeskFetchedUser }> {
+  try {
+    const { result: section } = await zendeskApiClient.helpcenter.sections.show(
+      article.section_id
+    );
+    const { result: user } = await zendeskApiClient.users.show(
+      article.author_id
+    );
+    return { section, user };
+  } catch (e) {
+    logger.error(
+      { articleId: article.id, error: e },
+      "[Zendesk] Error fetching article metadata"
+    );
+    if (isNodeZendeskForbiddenError(e)) {
+      throw new ExternalOAuthTokenError(e);
+    }
+    throw e;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/connectors/src/connectors/zendesk/temporal/activities.ts b/connectors/src/connectors/zendesk/temporal/activities.ts
index 6106ecc6e686..07afe6c274c4 100644
--- a/connectors/src/connectors/zendesk/temporal/activities.ts
+++ b/connectors/src/connectors/zendesk/temporal/activities.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import type { ModelId } from "@dust-tt/types";
 
+import { isNodeZendeskForbiddenError } from "@connectors/connectors/zendesk/lib/errors";
 import { syncArticle } from "@connectors/connectors/zendesk/lib/sync_article";
 import { syncCategory } from "@connectors/connectors/zendesk/lib/sync_category";
 import { syncTicket } from "@connectors/connectors/zendesk/lib/sync_ticket";
@@ -14,6 +15,7 @@ import {
 import { ZENDESK_BATCH_SIZE } from "@connectors/connectors/zendesk/temporal/config";
 import { dataSourceConfigFromConnector } from "@connectors/lib/api/data_source_config";
 import { concurrentExecutor } from "@connectors/lib/async_utils";
+import { ExternalOAuthTokenError } from "@connectors/lib/error";
 import { ZendeskTimestampCursor } from "@connectors/lib/models/zendesk";
 import { syncStarted, syncSucceeded } from "@connectors/lib/sync_status";
 import logger from "@connectors/logger/logger";
@@ -328,11 +330,21 @@ export async function syncZendeskArticleBatchActivity({
     `[Zendesk] Processing ${articles.length} articles in batch`
   );
 
-  const sections =
-    await zendeskApiClient.helpcenter.sections.listByCategory(categoryId);
-  const { result: users } = await zendeskApiClient.users.showMany(
-    articles.map((article) => article.author_id)
-  );
+  let sections;
+  let users;
+  try {
+    sections =
+      await zendeskApiClient.helpcenter.sections.listByCategory(categoryId);
+    const { result: usersResult } = await zendeskApiClient.users.showMany(
+      articles.map((article) => article.author_id)
+    );
+    users = usersResult;
+  } catch (e) {
+    if (isNodeZendeskForbiddenError(e)) {
+      throw new ExternalOAuthTokenError(e);
+    }
+    throw e;
+  }
 
   await concurrentExecutor(
     articles,
diff --git a/connectors/src/connectors/zendesk/temporal/incremental_activities.ts b/connectors/src/connectors/zendesk/temporal/incremental_activities.ts
index de37de067f33..ad9df74a4a28 100644
--- a/connectors/src/connectors/zendesk/temporal/incremental_activities.ts
+++ b/connectors/src/connectors/zendesk/temporal/incremental_activities.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import { getZendeskSubdomainAndAccessToken } from "@connectors/connectors/zendes
 import {
   changeZendeskClientSubdomain,
   createZendeskClient,
+  fetchArticleMetadata,
   fetchRecentlyUpdatedArticles,
   fetchRecentlyUpdatedTickets,
 } from "@connectors/connectors/zendesk/lib/zendesk_api";
@@ -112,10 +113,9 @@ export async function syncZendeskArticleUpdateBatchActivity({
   await concurrentExecutor(
     articles,
     async (article) => {
-      const { result: section } =
-        await zendeskApiClient.helpcenter.sections.show(article.section_id);
-      const { result: user } = await zendeskApiClient.users.show(
-        article.author_id
+      const { section, user } = await fetchArticleMetadata(
+        zendeskApiClient,
+        article
       );
 
       if (section.category_id) {