Vietnam criticizes US recognition of Israel's sovereignty over Syria’s Golan Heights

By Khanh Lynh   March 28, 2019 | 05:42 pm PT
Vietnam criticizes US recognition of Israel's sovereignty over Syria’s Golan Heights
An Israeli flag flutters over the wreckage of an Israeli tank overlooking the armistice line on the Golan Heights. Photo by AFP/Jalaa Marey
Vietnam has joined the international community in criticizing the U.S.'s recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over Syria’s Golan Heights.

"Vietnam shares the grave concern of the international community on recent developments regarding the status of the Golan Heights," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said in a statement Thursday.

"Vietnam calls on relevant countries to take prompt actions in line with U.N. resolutions, with respect to international law and settle disputes through dialogues in the interest of sustainable peace in the Middle East and the world."

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order recognizing Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights at a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday.

It has attracted severe criticism from European and Middle Eastern countries and organizations, including the U.K., France, Germany, Russia, Turkey, the European Union, and the Arab League, which voiced support for U.N. Security Council resolutions recognizing the territory as belonging to Syria and illegally occupied by Israel.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981 in a move the U.N. Security Council declared "null and void and without international legal effect."

 
 
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