Syrian Foreign Ministry Urges UN To Take Clear Stance On Golan Heights - Reports

DAMASCUS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd March, 2019) Syrian Foreign Ministry has urged the UN Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council to establish a clear official position on the status of the Golan Heights, local media reported on Friday, as day after US President Donald Trump's call for recognizing Israel's sovereignty over the disputed region.

The Golan Heights, a strategically important area, has been mostly under Israel's control after the country seized the area during the 1967 Six-Day War. When Israel adopted a law that officially annexed the territory back in 1981, the United Nations declared that it was "null and void and without international legal effect."

"Syria demands UN Secretary-General [Antonio Guterres] to take an unambiguous official stance confirming the stable position of international organizations in relation to the problem of the Israeli occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights," the Syrian Foreign Ministry's letter to the UN secretary-general and the UN Security Council president read, as quoted by the Syrian Ikhbariya tv.

Damascus has called upon the UN Security Council to "take effective measures" that will ensure the fulfillment of the mandate to implement the resolutions stating that Israel has "to withdraw from the entire territory of the Golan Heights to the June 1967 line." "These are resolutions 242, 338, 497," the letter notes.

According to Damascus, the US administration has no right to decide the fate of the Syrian occupied territories, and the recognition of the Syrian land under the sovereignty of another state is viewed as an act of aggression against Damascus.

US President Donald Trump's statement that it was time for the United States to fully recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights triggered strong criticism in a number of countries, including Iran, Turkey, Syria, China and Palestine.