Turkey, Iran, Russia condemn US move on Golan Heights

By Sibel Morrow</p> <p>ANKARA (AA) – Turkey, Russia and Iran Friday condemned the U.S. decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty over occupied Syrian Golan Heights in a two-day meeting on Syria in Kazakhstan.</p> <p>It came in a joint joint statement following the international meeting on Syria in the Astana format in Nur-Sultan, the recently-renamed Kazakh capital.</p> <p>The three guarantor countries of Astana process on the Syria peace reaffirmed their strong commitment &quot;to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic and to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.&quot;</p> <p>On March 25, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a presidential proclamation officially recognizing the highlands on the border with Syria as Israel's territory.</p> <p>Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War.</p> <p>It occupies roughly two-thirds of the wider Golan Heights as a de facto result of the conflict. </p> <p>It moved to formally annex the territory in 1981 — an action unanimously rejected at the time by the UN Security Council.</p> <p>The guarantor countries underscored that the UN principles should be universally respected and that no actions, no matter by whom they were undertaken, should undermine them.</p> <p>&quot;In this regard they strongly condemned the decision of the US Administration to recognize Israel's sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, which constitutes a grave violation of international law, particularly the UN Security Council resolution 497, and threatens peace and security in the Middle East,&quot; read the statement.</p> <p>The Astana process has been successful in bringing a cease-fire in Syria and led to the creation of de-escalation zones.</p> <p>Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.</p> <p>According to UN figures, hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed or displaced in the conflict, mainly by regime airstrikes in opposition-held areas.