Alwaght-Syria slammed US president Donald Trump’s recognition of the annexation of the occupied Syrian Golan by the Israeli regime.
In a statement, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said that the step represents the highest degrees of contempt for the international legitimacy and a blow to the international community.
“The US president has recognized the annexation of the occupied Syrian Golan to the Zionist occupation entity in a flagrant aggression of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic, turning a blind eye to all international reactions that condemned such resolution,” the Ministry said on Monday.
The statement added that Syria, while announcing its categorical rejection of the US resolution, affirms that the whole universe can’t change the historic reality that Golan was and still Syrian territory, and its liberation, with all available means, and its restoration to the Homeland, Syria, is a firm right.
It added that the Syrians’ determination to achieve the liberation of Golan is more concrete today, more than any time before, having the same will that defeated the terrorist aggression.
A statement by the Arab League on Monday also censured Trump’s decision, saying, “It does not change the legal status of the area in any way.”
Arab League Chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit said the 22-member organization “strongly supports Syria’s claim to the area, and that the League's stance has been endorsed by Arab nations.”
Russia, in turn, warned against the repercussions of Trump’s decision, which it said “ignores all international procedures” and would “only aggravate the situation.”
“Unfortunately, this could drive a new wave of tensions in the Middle East region,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a radio broadcast on Monday
Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry also denounced Trump’s decision as a violation of all the rules of international law,” saying it “undermines any effort to reach a just peace.” Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement against the US move, describing the Golan Heights as occupied Arab land.
Doha also urged Israel to comply with “the resolutions of international legitimacy to withdraw from all occupied Arab territories, including the Golan Heights.”
President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, also condemned the measure and said in a tweet, “There is no legitimacy that can override UN Security Council resolutions, the UN General Assembly or the Arab Peace Initiative.”
Head of Hamas Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh, meanwhile, stressed that the Golan Heights would “forever remain an integral part of Syria.”
Iran, Turkey and the UN have also denounced the US president’s recognition of the Israeli regime's sovereignty over the Golan Heights.