Lebanon condemns Israeli government's decision 'to expand settlement in occupied Syrian Golan'

The Lebanese Foreign Ministry on Monday strongly condemned the Israeli government's decision “to expand settlement in the occupied Syrian Golan.”

This extension decision “goes hand in hand with the extension of the Israeli ground incursion into Syrian territory and the systematic destruction of the Syrian state's resources, in flagrant violation of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the U.N. Charter and relevant resolutions,” denounced Lebanese diplomacy in a statement. “These Israeli practices aim to alter the demographic situation of the Golan and extend the zone of occupation at a time when the Syrian brothers are busy shaping the future of their country, and will complicate the path towards a just and comprehensive peace in the region,” Bustros Palace continued. Finally, the ministry called on the United Nations, in particular the Security Council, to “condemn and stop these violations.”

The Israeli government on Sunday approved a plan to double the population in the part of the Syrian Golan annexed by Israel, but says it has no interest in entering into conflict with Syria, having taken control of the U.N.-monitored buffer zone. Just hours after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was ousted from power by rebels on Dec. 8, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the army to seize the controlled buffer zone separating the two countries on the Golan Heights.