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US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over Golan is aimed at destabilizing Syria — analyst

Italian journalist and analyst Giulietto Chiesa believes the "serious decision" will cause "strong effects on the situation in the region"

© AP Photo/Ariel Schalit

BRUSSELS, March 26. /TASS/. The United States’ decision to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over part of Syria’s territory - the Golan Heights - is aimed at destabilizing Syria with Tel-Aviv’s hands and increases the risk of a conflict with Iran, Italian journalist and analyst Giulietto Chiesa told TASS on Tuesday.

"This is a very serious decision, and it will cause strong effects on the situation in the region for a variety of reasons. Firstly, the United States and Israel are clearly stepping up efforts to destabilize Syria to a degree where a clash with Iran might be possible. Secondly, Mr. Trump has shown that his administration’s full support for Israel’s most radical plans is not a whim or improvisation, contrary to what some were saying after Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, but a strategic policy," said Chiesa, a former member of the European Parliament.

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Kremlin: Trump's decision on Golan Heights will have negative aftermath for Middle East

"As a matter of fact, the United States ups the ante in attempts to regain control of the region. What makes the situation still more dangerous is the United States is in a political crisis and its influence in the international scene is waning. Washington is prepared to resort to the extreme measures in a bid to bolster its dwindling world supremacy," Chiesa said. He is certain that in the foreseeable future the EU countries, which have already declared their refusal to recognize the Golan Heights as Israeli territory are "unlikely to change their mind." Chiesa expects that the United States will be trying to exert pressures first and foremost on the EU’s smaller states to raise support for its new strategy for Israel.

At a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in the White House on March 25 US President Donald Trump put his signature to a proclamation on the United States’ recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan heights. Earlier, Russia and Syria and also key European countries, including Germany and France, opposed this unilateral move.

The Golan Heights, an integral part of Syria starting from 1944, were seized by Israel in the six-day war in 1967. Fourteen years later the Israeli parliament unilaterally proclaimed sovereignty over the Golan heights. The UN Security Council on December 17, 1981 dismissed these actions as null and void.

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Syria United States Israel Donald Trump

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