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Syria has promised to retake the Golan Heights. Donald Trump's appeal to the United States to recognize the occupied territory as part of Israel has prompted strong reactions from Russia, Turkey and Iran.
The president put an end to half a century of US foreign policy and separated from the post-war international consensus banning territorial conquest during the war. with a tweet Thursday that said it was time "to fully recognize the sovereignty of Israel over the Golan Heights".
Trump said the territory had "critical strategic and security significance for the state of Israel and regional stability."
Israeli troops took control of the volcanic plateau from Syria during the six-day war in 1967 and then annexed it, steps that were condemned by the UN Security Council and never recognized internationally.
Syrian media said Friday that the country is now "more determined to release him by any means possible, regardless of the circumstances," citing a source from the Foreign Ministry. Damascus said Trump's statement showed "the blind US bias" towards Israel, but would not change "the fact that the Golan was and will always be a Syrian Arab territory".
Syria's allies, Russia and Iran, have also criticized Washington. Iran said the announcement was "illegal and unacceptable", and Russia said a change of status of the Golan Heights would be a direct violation of UN resolutions.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that "may destabilize the already fragile situation in the Middle East".
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned on Friday that Trump's "unfortunate" statement had brought the region "to the brink of a new crisis and new tensions".
"We will never allow the legitimization of the occupation of the Golan Heights," he said.
European powers have also warned of potential damage to the international order.
The French Foreign Ministry said: "The recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, occupied territory, would be contrary to international law, especially the obligation for states not to recognize an illegal situation."
The German government condemned what it called "unilateral measures". "If national borders are to be changed, this must be done by peaceful means among all those involved," said spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer.
In the decades since its capture, Israel has been negotiating with Syria for a peaceful solution to the Golan, without success. Syria failed to take over the region by force in 1973, and the two countries signed an armistice a year later.
In 2000, the then Syrian President, Hafez al-Assad, refused an agreement after Israel denied him access to the seaside of Galilee at the foot of the Golan Heights. . Both parties covet the region's water resources.
Tourists on the Golan Heights. Photo: Jalaa Marey / AFP / Getty Images
Since then, Israel has been rooted in building military bases and establishing a solid civilian base with multiple tourism projects. It has become one of Israel's least volatile border conflicts, especially since Damascus was distracted by its own civil war.
Iran, its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, and Russia all sent forces to Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad during the conflict. The Israeli Air Force conducted bombing raids on bases in Syria that it said would house Iranian personnel as well as alleged arms transfers to Hezbollah.
In May, Israel said Iranian troops fired rockets at its positions in the Golan. The outbreak was seen as a response to Trump's withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal, which provoked Tehran's anger.
Dan Altman, an adjunct professor at Georgia State University specializing in territorial conquest, said the United States had resorted to a "non-recognition" policy, such as rejecting the annexation of Crimea by Russia.
"There is usually no need to take a public position recognizing a conquest that neither created nor destroyed a country," he said. "Usually, it is easier to avoid taking a stand on sovereignty over the disputed territory. Silence, neutrality and calls for the cessation of hostilities are common political responses. "
He could not give a clear example of the United States' recognition of the territory captured by the war in recent decades, but said that North Vietnam's conquest of South Vietnam in 1975, which Washington had recognized by normalizing its relations in 1995, had been recognized.
Israel has long lobbied Washington to recognize its claims over 1,200 square kilometers, saying it needed the plateau as a raised security buffer.
Palestinians fear that acceptance of Israel's claim to the Golan will serve as a springboard for US recognition of another territory that it captured in the 1967 war and continues to rule – the West Bank busy. This decision would effectively end US support for a Palestinian state as it is currently envisaged.
Trump had already broken with decades of American foreign policy by transferring the American Embbady from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
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