Syria, allies slam Donald Trump’s declaration that US will recognise Israeli sovereignty over Golan Heights
- Damascus describes move as a threat to international peace
- Russia says change to Golan status could destabilise region
From Syria to Turkey and beyond, President Donald Trump’s abrupt declaration that Washington will recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights drew strong condemnation on Friday.
The Syrian government called it “irresponsible” and a threat to international peace and stability, while Iran’s foreign ministry said it plunges the region into a new crisis.
The foreign ministry in Damascus said Trump’s statement confirms “the blind bias of the United States to the Zionist entity,” referring to Israel, and added that it won’t change “the fact that the Golan was and will remain Arab and Syrian”.
The ministry also said Damascus is now more intent on liberating the Golan, “using every possible means”.
Trump’s announcement the day before was a major shift in American policy and gives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a political boost a month before what is expected to be a close election.
The administration has been considering recognising Israel’s sovereignty over the strategic highlands, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967, for some time and Netanyahu had pressed the matter with visiting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week.
President Donald Trump says US should ‘fully recognise’ Israeli sovereignty over annexed Golan Heights
Israel unilaterally annexed the Golan Heights in 1981. The United Nations Security Council resolution 497, issued after the annexation, refers to Israel as “the occupying power” and says Israel’s attempt to “impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights is null and void and without international legal effect”.
Damascus also said Trump’s statement “clearly shows the US disdain to the international legitimacy and violates its resolutions, especially Security Council resolution 497” while also threatening “international peace and stability”.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said Trump’s “personal and arbitrary decisions” plunge the region into a new crisis, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit also criticised the American stance, saying it “comes outside the international legitimacy and no country, no matter how important it is, can make such a decision.”
Israel and Syria claim to have shot down each other’s missiles in apparent tit-for-tat attacks
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Trump’s “unfortunate” declaration has brought the region “to the brink of a new crisis and new tensions”.
“We will never allow the legitimisation of the occupation of the Golan Heights,” Erdogan added. Egypt also issued a statement, saying the Golan is occupied Arab territory and calling for respect for international resolutions.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Trump’s comments “can destabilise the already fragile situation in the Middle East.”
“The very idea is not helping the goals of the Middle East settlement, quite the other way round,” he said. “Right now, it’s merely a declaration. Let’s hope it will stay this way.”
In Brussels, the European Union underlined that it does not recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
“The position of the EU has not changed,” an EU spokeswoman said. “The European Union, in line with international law, does not recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967, including the Golan Heights and does not consider them to be part of Israel’s territory.”
The US will be the first country to recognise Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, which the rest of the international community regards as territory occupied by Israel whose status should be determined by negotiations between Israel and Syria. Attempts to bring Israel and Syria to the table have failed.
It was not immediately clear how a United Nations’ peacekeeping force that is in place in the Golan might be affected by the US move. That force’s mandate expires at the end of June.
There had been signals that a US decision was coming. Last week, in its annual human rights report, the State Department dropped the phrase “Israeli-occupied” from the Golan Heights section, instead calling it “Israeli-controlled”.
Additional reporting by Reuters
