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Syria, Aboul Gheit Slam Pompeo's Visit to Occupied Golan Heights

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listens as Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi speaks after a security briefing on Mount Bental in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights November 19, 2020. Patrick Semansky/Pool via REUTERS
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listens as Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi speaks after a security briefing on Mount Bental in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights November 19, 2020. Patrick Semansky/Pool via REUTERS
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Syria, Aboul Gheit Slam Pompeo's Visit to Occupied Golan Heights

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listens as Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi speaks after a security briefing on Mount Bental in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights November 19, 2020. Patrick Semansky/Pool via REUTERS
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listens as Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi speaks after a security briefing on Mount Bental in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights November 19, 2020. Patrick Semansky/Pool via REUTERS

Syria condemned US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to the “occupied” Golan Heights on Thursday and described it as a provocative act.

Pompeo became the first US secretary of state to visit an Israeli West Bank settlement and the Golan Heights.

Syria called on the international community and the UN to condemn the “provocative” visit, which it said violated international resolutions, a government source was quoted on state media as saying, Reuters reported.

“The visit is a provocative move before the end of Trump’s administration and a flagrant violation of our sovereignty,” the statement said.

For his part, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit also condemned Pompeo's unprecedented visit.

"This action is a flagrant violation of international legitimacy and encourages the right-wing Israeli government to continue its illegal settlement construction, deemed the greatest obstacle to peace based on the two-state solution," he was quoted as saying in a statement.

He also stressed that Pompeo’s trip would not change the internationally recognized status of the Palestinian lands.

Remarkably, the Trump administration recognized Israel’s claim to sovereignty over the Golan Heights in 2019.

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Lebanon Detains Several People on Suspicion of Firing Rockets at Israel

A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)
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Lebanon Detains Several People on Suspicion of Firing Rockets at Israel

A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows a damaged site in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as Israeli troops withdrew from most of south Lebanon, in Lebanon, February 19, 2025. (Reuters)

The Lebanese military said it has detained a group of people linked to firing rockets into Israel last month.

In a statement issued late Wednesday night, the army said it had detained several people, including a number of Palestinians, who were involved in firing rockets in two separate attacks toward Israel in late March that triggered intense Israeli airstrikes on parts of Lebanon. Lebanon’s Hezbollah group denied at the time it was behind the firing of rockets, The Associated Press reported.

The army said that a vehicle and other equipment used in the rockets attacks were confiscated and the detainees were referred to judicial authorities. The army said it had carried out raids in different parts of Lebanon to detain the suspects without giving further details.

On Thursday, the state-run National News Agency reported that Gen. Rodolph Haikal briefed a weekly cabinet meeting about the security situation along the border and the ongoing implementation of the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war.

Three security and one judicial official told The Associated Press that four Palestinians linked to the Hamas group are being questioned.

A Hamas official told the AP that several members of the group were detained in Lebanon recently and released shortly afterward adding that they were not involved in firing rockets into Israel. He said in one case authorities detained a Hamas member who was carrying an unlicensed pistol.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Hezbollah started launching attacks on Israel a day after the Israel-Hamas war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023 with the Palestinian militants’ attack on southern Israel. The war that left more than 4,000 people dead in Lebanon and caused wide destruction ended in late November with a US-brokered ceasefire.

Since the ceasefire went into effect in late November, Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes that left dozens of civilians and Hezbollah members dead.

On Tuesday, the office of the UN high commissioner for human rights said that at least 71 civilians, including 14 women and nine children, have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since a ceasefire took effect.