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Liz Sly
Head of the Beirut office, covering Lebanon, Syria and the wider region
March 22 at 8:01
BEIRUT – Syria and its Russian and Iranian allies on Friday condemned President Trump's call to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, exacerbating regional tensions as the Trump government seeks to limit the country's growing influence. 'Iran.
A statement by the Syrian Foreign Ministry said the move would strengthen Syria's resolve to recover Israel's occupied territory "by all available means," while Russia and Iran said they were violating the law. international.
Turkey, an ally of the United States, said it was likely to create a new crisis in the Middle East.
Trump's efforts to claim Israel's ownership of strategic heights along the Israeli-Syrian border, expressed in a tweet on Thursday, marked a major shift in US policy and were hailed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But it also raised fears of escalating clashes along the ceasefire line.
Israel seized two-thirds of the Golan during the 1967 war, and since 1973 Syria has made no military effort to reconquer it. His army is not up to Israel's superior military capabilities.
In the 1990s and later in the late 2000s, Damascus embarked on peace talks with Israel, backed by the United States, to ensure the return of the territory.
The Syrian civil war, however, has brought Iranian military advisers and Iranian-backed militias, such as Lebanon's Hezbollah, into the Golan Heights that remain under Syrian control. They repeatedly fired rockets at Israel, triggering retaliatory strikes. .
"This tweet is very dangerous and will cause more chaos in the region," said Mohammed Obaid, a Lebanese badyst close to the Hezbollah movement, backed by Iran and Lebanon.
[Trump endorses Israeli control of the disputed Golan Heights]
Syria called "irresponsible" the badertion of Israeli sovereignty, claiming that it revealed America's "hegemony and arrogance mentality."
"The statements of the American president and his administration. . . It will never change the fact that the Golan is and will remain an integral part of Arab Syria and that the Syrian people are more determined and determined to liberate this precious territory from the Syrian national territory by all available means, "said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Foreign.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said Trump's statement was "illegal and unacceptable" and does not change the fact that the Golan "belongs to Syria". The Russian Foreign Ministry has violated UN resolutions calling for the restoration of territory in Syria. .
The US badertion of Israeli claims will give Iran a propaganda boost at a time when the Trump government is urging allies in the region to join efforts to reduce Iran's influence. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Beirut Friday morning for a visit to urge Lebanese leaders to take steps to limit the growing importance of Hezbollah in the Lebanese government.
"We will spend a lot of time talking to the Lebanese government about how we can help them disconnect from the threat Iran and Hezbollah pose to them," Pompeo told reporters earlier this week. Kuwait.
The message may, however, be compromised by the fury of Trump's tweet in the Golan.
Hilal Khashan, professor of political science at the American University of Beirut, announced that the change in US policy planned on the eve of the visit to Lebanon would "turn against us." Most ordinary Lebanese, including those opposed to Hezbollah, are outraged by the recognition of Israeli sovereignty over land they regard as Arab, he said.
"This measure will strengthen Hezbollah by justifying its military presence on the Golan Heights and giving it an excuse to continue its expansion," he said. "Hezbollah will have an interest in telling everyone that our commitment to maintaining our military arsenal is justified. the war is not over. And that will weaken those who would like Hezbollah to be finally disarmed. "
Lebanon has its own border disputes with Israel, including about the Shebaa Farms, a parcel of farmland adjacent to the Golan, and this decision will only serve to embarrbad Lebanese allies in the United States, said Obaid. .
Among the problems that Pompeo should raise is another dispute between Lebanon and Israel over their maritime borders, which is taking on a new urgency because of the discovery that the region probably contains large reserves of natural gas, according to Lebanese officials .
"Lebanon can not accept such a change of attitude of the United States towards the Golan, because it means that Lebanon will have to forget its own regions," said Obaid. "What Trump said would demolish the American hopes for Pompeo's visit."
In a speech delivered in Istanbul, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that Trump's "unfortunate remarks" recognizing Israeli sovereignty risked pushing the region to "a new crisis".
"We can not legitimize the occupation of the Golan Heights," he said.
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