Damascus calls on U.N to stop Israel drilling oil in the Golan Heights

On Thursday, Damascus condemned Israel’s intentions to drill for oil in the Golan Heights – Syrian territory it occupied in 1967, and labelled the action an “illegal and a flagrant violation” of Security Council resolutions. It has called on the United Nations to take “serious action” to prevent this.

The official Syrian news agency, SANA, reported that the Syrian Foreign Ministry sent identical letters to the President of the UN Security Council and the Secretary-General of the United Nations stressing that Israel’s intention to drill for oil in the Golan Heights is “an illegal” and “flagrant violation of Security Council Resolution 497 adopted in 1981. The letter calls for “the eradication of the annexation of the Golan Height”, arguing that this action “aims to maintain a situation of occupation and annexation in violation of the decision by the Security Council.”

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Moreover, the ministry’s letters call for “serious action by the United Nations to prevent Israel from carrying out the new aggressive and provocative measure,”. They also assert that such a move is “enough to hold up credibility in the implementation of its resolutions on ending the Israeli occupation of Arab territories and its sincerity in seeking to establish just, comprehensive, and sustainable peace in the region.”

Damascus also demanded that the United Nations “put an end to Israel’s continued undermining of its decisions and laws, and emphasize their rejection of double standards which provide political immunity to its violations, and allow them to act as if they are above their obligations.”