Syria condemns Israeli plans to double number of Golan settlers (updated)

Foresight Autonomous Holdings

27/12/2021 16:59

(Adds quote from statement, background)
    BEIRUT, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Syria's foreign ministry on
Monday condemned Israeli plans to double the number of Jewish
settlers in the Golan Heights within five years as a "dangerous
and unprecedented escalation", Syrian state media reported. 
    Israel's cabinet approved nL1N2TB06Y a blueprint on Sunday
to build some 7,300 additional housing units on the strategic
plateau that it captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war,
in a move that could tighten its hold on the territory.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2TB06Y 
    "Syria strongly condemns the dangerous and unprecedented
escalation by the Israeli occupation authorities" in the Golan,
the state-run SANA news agency said, adding Damascus would seek
to use all legally available means to retake the territory. 
    Syria has long demanded the return of the 1,200-square-km
(460-square-mile) strip of land, which also overlooks Lebanon
and borders Jordan.


 (Reporting by Omar Fahmy
Writing by Ahmad Elhamy in Cairo and Timour Azhari in Beirut;
Editing by Mark Heinrich and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)