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AFP
Damascus
Syria, its allies, and fellow states in the region Friday condemned US President Donald Trump’s pledge to recognise Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights slamming the move as a violation of international law.
Trump said Thursday it was time for Washington to recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the strategic territory, which it seized from Syria in the Six-Day War of 1967 and annexed in a move never recognised internationally. His abrupt tweet triggered delight in Israel, but outrage from other countries in the region as well as powerhouses such as Russia and Turkey.
Moscow warned the policy U-turn could spark new conflicts. “Such appeals can considerably destabilise an already tense situation in the Middle East,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“Hopefully it will remain (just) a call.” Any such move would break with UN Security Council resolutions and with more than half a century of US foreign policy, which treated the Golan as occupied territory whose future would be negotiated in talks with Syria on a comprehensive peace. The territory’s return has always been a key Syrian national demand, championed by government and rebels alike throughout the bloody civil war that has ripped the country apart since 2011.
In an angry retort, the Syrian government said Trump’s comments disregarded international law. “The American position towards Syria’s occupied Golan Heights clearly reflects the United States’ contempt for international legitimacy and its flagrant violation of international law,” a foreign ministry source told the official SANA news agency. Trump’s comments showed the extent of his administration’s “blind bias” towards Israel.
“The Golan was and will remain Arab and Syrian,” the source said. The foreign ministry sent a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, urging him to reiterate the UN’s rejection of Israeli claims over the Golan, SANA said.
Turkey, which hosted the last indirect peace talks between Israel and the Syrian government in 2008 but has backed Syrian rebels, said the change risked plunging the region into a “new crisis”.
“We will never allow the occupation of Golan Heights to be made legitimate,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted he was “shocked by @realDonaldTrump continuing to try to give what is not his to racist Israel.” And France added its voice to the chorus of outrage, saying the Golan had been “occupied by Israel since 1967” and it did not recognise Israel’s annexation. The Arab League said Trump’s comments were “completely outside international law”. The Gulf Cooperation Council said Trump’s statement would not change the internationally recognised fact that the “Golan heights are Syrian lands forcefully occupied by Israel”.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said lasting peace in the region requires Israel to withdraw from all Arab territories it occupies, including the Golan. France on Friday warned US President Donald Trump that recognising Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which it seized from Syria in 1967, would be “contrary to international law”.
“The Golan is a territory that has been occupied by Israel since 1967. France does not recognise the Israeli annexation of 1981,” the foreign ministry said in a statement, a day after Trump vowed to accept Israeli sovereignty over the territory.
“The situation has been recognised as null and void by several resolutions of the Security Council, in particular United Nations Security Council resolution 497.”West Palm Beach: US President Donald Trump said Friday that the Islamic State group has been “100 percent” defeated in Syria. Trump made the comment as he showed reporters maps of the region -- one showing the large areas once held by the group and a second that showed the situation on Friday with no presence. “There’s ISIS, and that’s what he have right now,” he said, pointing at the two maps. Spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said “the territorial caliphate has been eliminated in Syria.” The White House declaration came after days of bombing and other attacks by Kurdish-led forces to clear the final tiny pockets of resistance by IS fighters (AFP)
Damascus
Syria, its allies, and fellow states in the region Friday condemned US President Donald Trump’s pledge to recognise Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights slamming the move as a violation of international law.
Trump said Thursday it was time for Washington to recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the strategic territory, which it seized from Syria in the Six-Day War of 1967 and annexed in a move never recognised internationally. His abrupt tweet triggered delight in Israel, but outrage from other countries in the region as well as powerhouses such as Russia and Turkey.
Moscow warned the policy U-turn could spark new conflicts. “Such appeals can considerably destabilise an already tense situation in the Middle East,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“Hopefully it will remain (just) a call.” Any such move would break with UN Security Council resolutions and with more than half a century of US foreign policy, which treated the Golan as occupied territory whose future would be negotiated in talks with Syria on a comprehensive peace. The territory’s return has always been a key Syrian national demand, championed by government and rebels alike throughout the bloody civil war that has ripped the country apart since 2011.
In an angry retort, the Syrian government said Trump’s comments disregarded international law. “The American position towards Syria’s occupied Golan Heights clearly reflects the United States’ contempt for international legitimacy and its flagrant violation of international law,” a foreign ministry source told the official SANA news agency. Trump’s comments showed the extent of his administration’s “blind bias” towards Israel.
“The Golan was and will remain Arab and Syrian,” the source said. The foreign ministry sent a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, urging him to reiterate the UN’s rejection of Israeli claims over the Golan, SANA said.
Turkey, which hosted the last indirect peace talks between Israel and the Syrian government in 2008 but has backed Syrian rebels, said the change risked plunging the region into a “new crisis”.
“We will never allow the occupation of Golan Heights to be made legitimate,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted he was “shocked by @realDonaldTrump continuing to try to give what is not his to racist Israel.” And France added its voice to the chorus of outrage, saying the Golan had been “occupied by Israel since 1967” and it did not recognise Israel’s annexation. The Arab League said Trump’s comments were “completely outside international law”. The Gulf Cooperation Council said Trump’s statement would not change the internationally recognised fact that the “Golan heights are Syrian lands forcefully occupied by Israel”.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said lasting peace in the region requires Israel to withdraw from all Arab territories it occupies, including the Golan. France on Friday warned US President Donald Trump that recognising Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which it seized from Syria in 1967, would be “contrary to international law”.
“The Golan is a territory that has been occupied by Israel since 1967. France does not recognise the Israeli annexation of 1981,” the foreign ministry said in a statement, a day after Trump vowed to accept Israeli sovereignty over the territory.
“The situation has been recognised as null and void by several resolutions of the Security Council, in particular United Nations Security Council resolution 497.”West Palm Beach: US President Donald Trump said Friday that the Islamic State group has been “100 percent” defeated in Syria. Trump made the comment as he showed reporters maps of the region -- one showing the large areas once held by the group and a second that showed the situation on Friday with no presence. “There’s ISIS, and that’s what he have right now,” he said, pointing at the two maps. Spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said “the territorial caliphate has been eliminated in Syria.” The White House declaration came after days of bombing and other attacks by Kurdish-led forces to clear the final tiny pockets of resistance by IS fighters (AFP)
