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Syria seeks urgent Security Council meeting on US declaration on Golan

Syria asked the United nations Security Council on Tuesday to hold an urgent meeting on the U.S. decision to recognize the Golan Heights as Israeli territory.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation Monday in which the United States recognized Israel’s 1981 annexation of the strategic plateau, despite UN resolutions that call for Israel’s withdrawal from the Golan. Israel captured the strategic territory from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War, along with the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt. The annexation was never recognized internationally.

In a letter seen by AFP, the Syrian mission to the United Nations asked the council presidency, held by France, to schedule an urgent meeting to “discuss the situation in the occupied Syrian Golan and the recent flagrant violation of the relevant Security Council’s resolution by a permanent member-state.”

The French presidency did not immediately schedule the meeting and diplomats said there would be a discussion at the council about the request.

On Friday, Syria wrote a separate letter urging the council to uphold resolutions demanding that Israel withdraw from the Golan.

The council is scheduled to discuss the latest crisis on Wednesday during a meeting on renewing the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force deployed between Israel and Syria in the Golan, known as UNDOF.

Read More: Ynetnews