 |
| FILE PHOTO: Signs pointing out distances to different cities, on Mount Bental, an observation post in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that overlooks the Syrian side of the Quneitra crossing, Israel May 10, 2018. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/File Photo |
The Syrian government vowed to recover the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Friday as its allies and enemies alike condemned U.S. President Donald Trump for moving to recognise Israeli sovereignty over the territory seized in war.
Trumpโs statement on Thursday marked a dramatic shift in U.S. policy over the status of a disputed area that Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981 โ a move not recognized internationally.
Russia and Iran, military allies of Damascus, condemned the shift towards recognition โ comments which the Syrian government said showed Washingtonโs โblindโ pro-Israeli bias.
โThe Syrian nation is more determined to liberate this precious piece of Syrian national land through all available means,โ the Syrian state news agency cited an official source as saying.
The Golan Heights would remain โSyrian, Arabโ, it said, saying the statement showed contempt for international law.
Turkey, a U.S.-allied state and an adversary of the Damascus government, also criticised the move, saying it had brought the Middle East to the edge of a new crisis and the legitimisation of the occupation of the Golan Heights could not be allowed.
โU.S. President Trumpโs unfortunate statement yesterday has brought the region to the brink of a new crisis,โ Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said.
Iran said the U.S. position was illegal and unacceptable, and Russia said a change in the status of the Golan Heights would be a direct violation of U.N. resolutions.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is touring the region, is due in Beirut on Friday where he will he will meet political allies of the powerful, Iran-backed Hezbollah, including President Michel Aoun.
Both Iran and Russia have deployed forces into Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad during the Syrian conflict, with Iran sending both its own forces and also backing regional Shiโite militias such as Lebanonโs Hezbollah that have helped Damascus.
โThis illegal and unacceptable recognition does not change the fact that it belongs to Syria,โ an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman was cited as saying by state TV.
In a speech at a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Turkeyโs Erdogan said: โwe cannot allow the legitimisation of the occupation of the Golan Heightsโ.
The Arab League, which suspended Syria in 2011, said Trumpโs comment paved โthe way for official American recognitionโ of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said the statements were โcompletely beyond international lawโ.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pressed the United States to recognize its claim and raised that possibility in his first White House meeting with Trump in February 2017. Trumpโs statement has given a boost to Netanyahu in the middle of his re-election campaign.
Netanyahu has praised Trump for โmaking historyโ with the statement.
โAfter 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israelโs Sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability!โ Trump wrote on Twitter on Thursday.
Trumpโs move followed the U.S. recognition in December 2017 of Jerusalem as Israelโs capital โ a decision that also drew international criticism as the disputed cityโs status remains at the heart of the Israel-Palestinian conflcit.
