Syria Condemns Israel's Decision To Increase Number Of Settlers In Golan Heights - Reports

BEIRUT (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th October, 2021) Damascus condemns Israel's decision to increase the number of Israeli settlers in the occupied part of the Golan Heights, the state-run Syrian Arab news Agency (SANA) reported on Monday, citing an official source at Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates.

Earlier on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, speaking at the Makor Rishon newspaper's conference on Golan Heights, said that Israel intends to double the number of residents and build two new settlements in the Golan Heights.

According to SANA, the source at Syrian Foreign Ministry called the statement aggressive and said it stressed "the hostile expansionist nature" of Israel.

In addition, the source reportedly added that Israel cannot change the legal status of Syrian Golan as an occupied territory.

Israel initially captured the area in a 1967 war and annexed it in 1981. However, the United Nations Security Council considers the Golan as part of Syria. The US administration under Donald Trump issued a presidential directive recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the territory in 2019, but the move was criticized by the European Union, Russia, and numerous other countries.

The region includes the western two-thirds of the geological Golan Heights and the Israeli-occupied part of Mount Hermon.