Russia Says Israeli Settlements in Syria's Golan Heights Threat to Regional Stability - Tasnim News Agency

Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations warned about Israel's occupation of the Golan Heights, saying that the regime's ambitions to expand its illegal settlements in the vital region undermine regional stability.

Speaking during a meeting of the UN Security Council, Vasily Nebenzya said: “Israel’s settlement plans in the occupied Syrian Golan threaten to undermine regional stability.”

In 1967, Israel waged a full-scale invasion of Arab territories, occupying a substantial portion of the Golan and annexed it four years later — a move that was never recognized by the international community.

Another battle broke out in 1973, and a year later, a UN-brokered truce took effect, under which the Tel Aviv regime and Damascus agreed to separate their soldiers and establish a buffer zone in the Heights. Israel, on the other hand, has erected dozens of illegal settlements in the Golan over the last several decades, despite international appeals for the state to cease its unlawful construction activities there.

In a unilateral move rejected by the international community in 2019, former US president Donald Trump signed a decree recognizing Israeli “sovereignty” over the Golan.

Nevertheless, Syria has repeatedly reaffirmed its sovereignty over the Golan, saying the territory must be completely restored to its control.

The United Nations has also time and again emphasized Syria’s sovereignty over the territory.

Earlier this year, Deputy Russian Ambassador to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy said Russia is concerned over Tel Aviv’s announced plans for expanding settlement activity in the occupied Golan Heights.

He said the move directly contradicts the provisions of the 1949 Geneva Convention.