ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s foreign ministry on Sunday condemned as a “flagrant violation of international law” the Israeli expansion into Syrian territory as Bashar al-Assad’s regime was being toppled, stressing that Damascus must obtain full control over its lands.
The ministry expressed “its strong condemnation and denunciation of the decision of the Zionist entity’s government to expand its settlement policy in the Syrian Golan, which represents a flagrant violation of international law and international resolutions,” it said in a statement.
As Islamist-led rebels were leading the charge on Damascus, Israeli troops marched across the border into a buffer zone east of the annexed Golan Heights, a move condemned by Arab countries and the United Nations as a violation of a 1974 armistice.
It has defended its decision to send troops across the border as a precaution to political uncertainty in Syria.
“Iraq stresses its firm and supportive position on the rights of the Syrian Arab Republic to regain its full sovereignty over its lands,” the ministry added. “The Golan is occupied Syrian land and any measures taken to challenge its legal and demographic status are null and void.”
Baghdad also called on the international community to act against Israel’s expansion into Syrian territory.
Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes to destroy Syria’s military stockpiles since the ousting of Assad to prevent rebels from seizing them.
On Monday, it carried out the “most violent” strikes since 2012 on the Syrian coastal region of Tartous, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.
The ministry expressed “its strong condemnation and denunciation of the decision of the Zionist entity’s government to expand its settlement policy in the Syrian Golan, which represents a flagrant violation of international law and international resolutions,” it said in a statement.
As Islamist-led rebels were leading the charge on Damascus, Israeli troops marched across the border into a buffer zone east of the annexed Golan Heights, a move condemned by Arab countries and the United Nations as a violation of a 1974 armistice.
It has defended its decision to send troops across the border as a precaution to political uncertainty in Syria.
“Iraq stresses its firm and supportive position on the rights of the Syrian Arab Republic to regain its full sovereignty over its lands,” the ministry added. “The Golan is occupied Syrian land and any measures taken to challenge its legal and demographic status are null and void.”
Baghdad also called on the international community to act against Israel’s expansion into Syrian territory.
Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes to destroy Syria’s military stockpiles since the ousting of Assad to prevent rebels from seizing them.
On Monday, it carried out the “most violent” strikes since 2012 on the Syrian coastal region of Tartous, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.
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