UAE condemns Israeli decision to surge Golan Heights settler population

The UAE has condemned Israel’s decision to expand settlements in the occupied Golan Heights, saying it threatens further escalation of tensions in the region.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) stressed its commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian state, adding the decision is a “deliberate effort to expand the occupation and is in violation and contravention of international law.”

On Sunday, the Israeli government approved a plan to increase the number of settlers in the Golan Heights, a week after the Assad regime was toppled, allocating 40 million shekels (11 million dollars) to encourage demographic changes in the area.   

The Israeli Prime Minister’s office said the government had “unanimously approved” the “demographic development” of the territory, which would seek to double the Israeli population there.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that the latest developments in Syria increased the threat to Israel, “despite the moderate image that the rebel leaders claim to present." 

It reportedly does not apply to territory seized after Assad was toppled.

Israel has moved into a demilitarized zone inside Syria that was created after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, including the Syrian side of the strategic Mount Hermon that overlooks Damascus, where its forces took over an abandoned Syrian military post.

Israel, which has said that it does not intend to stay there and calls the incursion into Syrian territory a limited and temporary measure to ensure border security, has also carried out hundreds of strikes on Syria’s strategic weapons stockpiles.

It has said it is destroying weapons and military infrastructure to prevent them from being used by opposition groups that drove al-Assad from power.

Syria’s de facto leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, better known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, said that Israel was using false pretexts to justify its attacks on Syria, but he was not interested in engaging in new conflicts as his country focuses on rebuilding.

The Golan Heights was captured from Syria by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War and was annexed in 1981.