Around 31,000 Israelis currently live in settlements considered illegal under international law in an area captured by Israel in 1967.
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The Israeli Knesset on Sunday approved a plan to double the number of settlers in the Israeli-occupied area of the Syrian Golan Heights.
Environ 31,000 Israelis currently live in settlements considered illegal under international law in the Golan Heightsin an area captured by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967.
These Israeli settlers live alongside around 20,000 Syrians, mostly Druze Arabs, who did not flee the region when it fell to Israel.
The United States, during the first term of Donald Trump, is the only country to have recognized the annexation of this region, decreed by Israel in 1981.
A “new front” in Syria
A week after the spectacular fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that a “new front” had opened in Syria, near the Israeli border.
In a televised address Sunday evening, however, the leader said Israel was not seeking conflict with Syria.
“We have no interest in confronting Syria. We will determine Israel’s policy towards Syria based on the emerging reality on the ground.”he says.
“I remind you that for decades Syria has been an active enemy state of Israel. It has attacked us repeatedly, it has allowed others to attack us from its territory, it has allowed Iran to arm Hezbollah through its territory”.
Israeli strikes in Syria
Since rebel groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) entered Damascus last Sunday and ended the 24-year rule of Bashar al-Assad, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes across Syria to destroy weapons depots, allegedly to prevent them from falling into the hands of its enemies.
These strikes were criticized by Syria’s de facto leader and head of HTS, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who said they “crossed the red lines” and risked worsening tensions in the Middle East.
The rebel leader, however, claims to want avoid any conflict with Israel.
“The priorities at this stage are reconstruction and stability, not being dragged into conflicts that could lead to greater destruction”he said.
Criticisms of the Gulf States
Israel’s proposal to increase the number of settlers in the Golan Heights was criticized by Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
In a statement, the Saudi Foreign Ministry described this proposal as an attempt “to sabotage Syria’s chances of security and stability”.
The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for its part, mentioned a “new episode in a series of Israeli aggressions on Syrian territories and flagrant violation of international law”.
Furthermore, a delegation from Doha is currently in Damascus before the reopening on Tuesday of the Qatari embassy in Syria, closed since 2011 in response to the brutal repression of anti-government demonstrators by Bashar al-Assad.
Finally, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said that the United Kingdom government was in “diplomatic contact” with the rebel group HTS.
HTS was established in 2011 as a direct affiliate of al-Qaeda – with a senior member of the Islamic State organization helping to found it – but later severed ties with both groups.
David Lammy’s announcement comes a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a news conference in Jordan that Washington had a “contact direct” with the HTS rebels and outlined the principles of continued U.S. support for the political transition in Syria.
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