Syria: Taking Back Golan Heights is an Inalienable Right

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad during his meeting with UN officials (SANA)
Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad during his meeting with UN officials (SANA)
TT

Syria: Taking Back Golan Heights is an Inalienable Right

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad during his meeting with UN officials (SANA)
Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad during his meeting with UN officials (SANA)

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad reiterated his country’s firm right to recover the occupied Golan Heights, noting that the presence of the peacekeeping forces is not a substitute for ending the occupation.

Mikdad stressed the importance of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) operating in the Golan Heights under the mandate stipulated per the relevant Security Council resolution, according to State-owned Syrian News Agency (SANA).

Mikdad met with the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix and UN Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia, and the Pacific, Mohamed Khaled el-Khiari.

During the meeting, the minister reiterated the Syrian government's support to UNDOF to fully implement the mandate entrusted to it, specifically monitoring the disengagement and detection of Israeli violations of the Separation of Forces Agreement represented by its reaccuring attacks on Syrian sovereignty.

He also condemned recent statements by the US administration, which ignored the United Nations resolutions recognizing the Golan Heights as an occupied Syrian Arab land.



Macron Tells Abbas 'Palestinian Governance' Needed in Gaza

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks at a press conference after a meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (not seen) in Beirut, Lebanon, 17 January 2025. (EPA)
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks at a press conference after a meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (not seen) in Beirut, Lebanon, 17 January 2025. (EPA)
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Macron Tells Abbas 'Palestinian Governance' Needed in Gaza

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks at a press conference after a meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (not seen) in Beirut, Lebanon, 17 January 2025. (EPA)
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks at a press conference after a meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (not seen) in Beirut, Lebanon, 17 January 2025. (EPA)

French President Emmanuel Macron has told Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas that a return to Palestinian governance was needed in Gaza after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Macron's office said on Sunday.

In a phone conversation Saturday, Macron said this should "fully incorporate the Palestinian Authority" and that Gaza's future should be aimed at the creation of a Palestinian state, while ensuring that "no massacre, like the one perpetrated on October 7 (2023), can ever be committed against the Israeli people again", the Elysee said.

It is "now essential to immediately work to respond to the Gazans' vital urgent needs, to ensure the delivery of massive humanitarian aid, at the level of the residents' needs", the Elysee added.